Illusion of Control
by akaJB
Summary: What if no one entered Paddock 11? The Indominus doesn't escape. Zach and Gray go home. Wu and Hoskins are scheming. And Owen and Claire are curious. Equal parts Jurassic World (Indoraptors!) and clawen. Mystery and adventure. And very slow burn. Complete.
1. Chapter 1

"_Nobody wants domesticated dinosaurs, Henry. They want the real thing." _

"_That's my point," Wu said. "I don't think they do. They want to see their expectation, which is quite different."_

_Hammond was frowning. _

"_You said yourself, John, this park is entertainment," Wu said. "And entertainment has nothing to do with reality. Entertainment is antithetical to reality."_

– Michael Crichton, _Jurassic Park_

**Chapter 1**

Claire trailed slowly along the lagoon, gaze turned towards the water as if she was searching for a glimpse of the Mosasaur swimming in the depths. She wasn't. She wasn't really seeing anything, to be honest. Instead, her mind was whirling a mile-a-minute and she felt unable to process, relying instead on the fact that she'd walked this island daily for over 10 years, and should be able to do so in her sleep.

Of course, tripping or falling would be just the perfect finishing touch to her night. Icing on the cake, and all.

She walked under the monorail, heading towards the Mosasaur grandstands. It was late enough that the attraction was closed for the night, and as she passed by it there were few people around, everyone drawn to the few areas that were still open along the brightly lit Main Street, or heading to the monorail platform to catch a ride back across the lagoon to the hotel. She could've done that. But the thought of being squished into a car full of happy strangers made her feel sick to her stomach.

She'd been one of them – a happy stranger on the monorail – only a few hours earlier, as she'd taken it over from the hotel to Main Street, where she and Owen had arranged to meet for their date.

God, had it really only been a few hours? It felt like days had passed, from when she'd stepped off the monorail, butterflies in her stomach. She wasn't used to that feeling. Usually, she knew exactly what she needed to do and where she needed to be. She was the master of her domain.

It had felt so _ridiculous_ that a _date_ was what was causing this. A date! People go on dates all the time. There's nothing abnormal about them. Except… except it _was_ abnormal, for her. She didn't date. It hadn't been a conscious decision. It was just something that had happened, as she'd kept her head down, focused on climbing the corporate ladder as fast and as high as she could.

She'd realized, quickly, that living on an island, where everyone worked for the same company, dating was rife with unintended consequences. You couldn't get away from a person if you had a horrible breakup, unless someone chose to leave the island. And the higher she climbed the ladder, the more she felt disconnected from everyone. As she climbed, everyone looked at her differently. She was now a boss, not just another employee. She was building a _career_, not just working a job.

She wasn't there to party for a summer or to bank some cash for a few years, as most of the people her age were, when she had first arrived. And as she got older, she also realized that the vast majority of the island's employees stayed young – they were the ones who were cashiers and waiters along Main Street, or ride attendants and general paddock staff. Those who _were_ her age, were more specialized. Scientists. Veterinarians. Animal Behaviourists.

Sure, some worked more in management, like she did, but those were too closely in line with her work that she was hesitant to even consider them, their roles and jobs overlapping. Not that any of them had ever approached her. At least, not that she _knew_ of.

Zara had commented, one day, that she was envious of the attention that Claire got from men. "Everywhere you go, guys are always giving you doubletakes. I don't know how you're not out on dates all the time."

And Zara would know. As the keeper of Claire's calendar, she had a pretty solid understanding of Claire's freetime (of which there was precious little) and what she did with it (catch up on sleep). She'd push, occasionally, trying to convince Claire to go out on a date. To "live a little." To "stop being so uptight." And, once, "you just need to lower your standards."

She had hated that comment most of all, and her thoughts about it must have been pretty clear on her face, because Zara had backtracked quickly, and agreed that she should be able to find someone at least _close_ to her standards.

To be honest, Claire _didn't_ know that men were looking at her. At least, not in the way that Zara had implied. She felt constantly scrutinized, but it was always more over her work. The being a "woman in a man's world" issues that were inevitable and more apparent the higher she climbed.

Once, just once, when she was younger, back before she'd gone to Nublar, when she was in university and wondering why her friends seemed to be able to find people to date and she was left on the sidelines, she'd tried online dating. She'd set up a profile, struggled to choose a couple of pictures, and then it all ground to a halt. The site had wanted her to answer a series of questions, like "what side of the bed do you sleep on?" and "favourite type of kiss?" and she'd been unable to answer them, blushing as she realized that she was too "naive" or "innocent" or "pure." No matter how you phrased it, it had all meant the same thing to her – that she was a failure.

She thought she'd figure out how to flirt, but she hadn't. She could never tell when someone was flirting with her, and, even if she had, she had no idea how to do it back. So she was left approaching all situations as if they were a business meeting, her boundaries so firmly in place that when Zara would mention, later, that so-and-so had been flirting, she'd be shocked. She was confident in her work, but that confidence didn't translate over to confidence in her personal life.

She wasn't sure what it was about Owen Grady that got through her defences. She thought it was his bluntness. He didn't beat around the bush. He had been very upfront about asking her out on a date. She hadn't had to decode if he was flirting or not. Hadn't had to try to grasp the nuances of something she didn't understand.

And, most of all, she had felt desired. It was a feeling she'd never felt before, but there had been something in his gaze, as his eyes had swept over her once, before steadily holding hers, that had almost caused her to blush. Afterwards, she had thought that maybe what she'd felt in that moment was what people meant when they would talk about the "giggling school girl crush." She had said yes before her brain had a chance to catch up with her mouth, surprising herself (and Owen, if she'd interpreted his reaction properly). But he'd beamed at her immediately, asking for her phone number so they could set something up and she'd rattled off the digits, fighting her instinct to say she'd get back to him later. She knew if she did, she'd never follow up, as her brain would take over, letting doubt and logic and reasoning creep in.

He wasn't a Jurassic World employee, employed through InGen instead. But both companies were owned by Masrani Global, and that was enough of a link for her to still be hesitant. They were also so different. She knew that. _Had_ known that, even when he'd asked her out. They had run into each other near the labs, Owen there to consult with Wu about something to do with the raptors and Claire on one of her regular rounds. The area was employee only, so if she hadn't known who he was (and she prided herself on knowing who _everyone_ who worked on the island was), it wouldn't have been hard to find out. And when he'd greeted her by name, before she'd offered up hers, she had know that he clearly knew who she was. And yet, he'd asked her out anyway. She could hear her sister's voice in her head saying "brave man," before following up after a moment with "or stupid."

"Arghhh," Claire growled loudly, before cutting herself off, looking around quickly to see if there was anyone around. But there wasn't. She was now alone walking beside the lagoon in the area between the mosasaur grandstands and the hotel. It was an area rarely travelled, as there were no other attractions in that space, and it stretched a fair way.

_Had_ Owen been stupid, asking her out? Or had _she_ been stupid, taking him up on it? She was in her 30s now, after all. If she hadn't figured out dating by this point… was she ever going to?

No. She was being to hard on herself. It was her first date in… god knew how many years. She shouldn't have expected it go perfectly. Probably shouldn't have tried to _plan_ for that, either. Of course, that reminder just made her feel worse. The printed itinerary she had carefully worked on was now crumbled up in the bottom of a garbage can along Main Street.

When she'd pulled it out – after she'd got over her shock of seeing him in board shorts, and wondering if _she_ had misinterpreted their plans and if it really _was_ a date – he'd laughed. Said they didn't need a plan, they could just "wing it." Claire didn't know the last time she'd "winged" _anything_ in her life. She had got to where she was _because_ she planned. He'd crumpled it into a ball, tossing it into a garbage can as they headed down Main Street. She'd almost asked where they were going, but she hadn't been sure she'd like the answer.

It had all gone downhill from there.

They had ended up in Margaritaville, and he'd had the audacity to order them drinks before asking what she wanted. Maybe that impressed others, but it didn't impress her. She knew what she liked. She didn't consider herself picky, exactly, but she also didn't think it was worth consuming food or drink that she wasn't going to enjoy. She'd made a comment about tequila not being part of her diet, and then _he_ had taken that to mean she was _on_ a diet, and asking if the salads there were okay, or if they needed to go somewhere else.

She had almost left at that point.

She hadn't known much about Owen before he'd asked her out but she'd done her research. She'd looked up his employee file (she hadn't actually been able to see much, the boundary between InGen and Jurassic World blocking her access) and had asked some subtle questions around a few people she knew were good sources of the island gossip. She'd found out that everyone who worked with him enjoyed it. That he made the work feel rewarding and fun, even during the challenging days and weeks where it felt like no progress was being made. That he was friendly and a "guy's guy," ready to grab a beer after work or catch a game. That he had chosen to live in essentially a trailer (although he supposedly called it a bungalow) out by a small lake, far from the rest of the employees. But that he wasn't a hermit, more just someone who enjoyed his solitude. And that he'd been on the island for coming up on three years now.

They'd also mentioned that he was known to be a bit of a ladies man, although the information as to what exactly that meant, had been a bit sparse. But, from what she _could_ gather, it wasn't _bad_. It wasn't that he was constantly seen with different women or that he treated them badly. And the word cheating had never come up. It seemed to be more that women gravitated towards him; that there was something about him that exuded comfort and safety. She assumed his good looks helped him there, too.

Claire had taken it as an explanation as to why he'd seemed so confident asking her out, and hadn't felt the need to work up to it. That he knew what he wanted and was used to easily getting it. Not that she had been hard to get. Should she have been?

It didn't matter now. Not now that it was over, both retreating back to their own corners to lick their wounds. Although, she had a feeling she was the only one who was going to feel a need to do that. He'd barely reacted when she'd bid him goodnight, before quickly turning on her heel to head anywhere but there. She wasn't sure what she'd been expecting. She knew the night hadn't gone any better for him, but she was still disappointed that he hadn't said anything. Hadn't given any indication that he took any blame for it starting on the wrong foot and getting progressively worse over the evening.

Was this what her life was going to be like? Underappreciated and undervalued in both work and personal relationships? Maybe men really weren't worth it.

Except… except, if that was true, why couldn't she convince her brain she was fine on her own? That she was "complete"?

She was nearing the hotel now, the bright lights and cheery atmosphere just souring her mood further. Reaching into her purse for her keys, she pulled out her phone as well. Maybe there would be a work emergency she could distract herself with. On the screen she saw a missed text message: **Can't wait to hear how it went. Have fun! And relax!**

Zara.

Dammit.

Could she call out sick tomorrow? No, that would be worse. Zara would make assumptions. And then she'd have to deal with _those_, on top of everything else. Definitely better to suck it up and deal with her tomorrow.

In the meantime… in the meantime, she was going to go up to her room and try to forget the night had ever happened. In fact, if she remembered correctly, she had a bottle of red with her name on it.

Nodding resolutely, she headed into the hotel, smiling politely at Joe, the doorman, as she passed.

Tomorrow was a new day. She could put the night behind her.

Her phone buzzed with a new message: **911 – Paddock 11**

o-o-o

"So," Barry stated, standing beside Owen on the catwalk, looking down at the four raptors below, who were milling about the open area in between tasks.

"So?" Owen repeated back, raising an eyebrow in question at his friend.

"You really aren't going to say anything about your date with Claire?" Barry asked.

Owen sighed, leaning on the railing in front of him, staring at the raptors. He had known that he wasn't going to be able to avoid questions about it. It was partially his fault for having been unable to hide his anticipation about the date in the first place. Of course, his crush on the Operations Manager hadn't gone unnoticed, not that he'd managed to be all that subtle about it. And he may have said something, once or twice, after a night out drinking.

"That bad, huh?"

"Yes–no," Owen shrugged, keeping his gaze focused on the raptors. "More… not what I expected."

"Hmm, not so easily impressed with your charm?" Barry asked with a slight chuckle. "You knew she wasn't going to be like the others, right?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Owen stood up, turning to face Barry.

"Just that she's not the type you normally ask out," Barry held up his hands in defense. "That her expectations were probably different, more high-class and all." Barry paused, looking intently at Owen for a moment before shaking his head. "Oh, don't tell me you–"

"That I what?" Owen said defensively. "I know how to take a woman out."

"Maybe," Barry said, backing away, hands still raised. "But Claire's different. If you don't see that…"

"Go away," Owen waved him off, turning back to his raptors. He let out a shrill whistle, watching as they all paused mid action to look up at him. Well, he may not have had success last night, but at least his raptors were starting to acknowledge his leadership.

o-o-o

It was well after 9:30 before Claire stumbled into work the next morning, clutching tightly to her venti doubleshot on ice that she'd picked up from Starbucks in one hand, her phone in the other. After last night, she knew she would need all the caffeine she could get her hands on if she was going to make it through the day. Paddock 11 was going to be the death of her.

"So?" Zara asked, quickly moving to Claire's side the moment she spotted her. "How'd it go?" Zara looked at the drink in Claire's hand, her eyebrows raising. "That good, huh?"

"What?" Claire responded distractedly, skimming over an email.

"I mean, it must have," Zara said, looking Claire up and down. "But, don't get me wrong, he's _hot_ and all, and with everything I've heard about him… I'm just surprised that _you_, on the first date…"

"That I what?" Claire asked, catching just the tail end of Zara's comment.

"That you slept with Owen!"

"I _what_?" Claire was shocked, her mouth dropping open before her gaze swept over the room that was thankfully empty. "I did not!"

"Oh," Zara's smile dropped, her excitement fading. "Then why?" She gave Claire another look up and down, gaze zeroing in on her drink.

"Paddock 11," Claire sighed. "I was there until just after three."

"Again?"

"Yeah," Claire headed towards her office, Zara trailing behind her.

"Oh no, did it interrupt your date?" Zara questioned, as they entered Claire's office.

"No," Claire shook her head, a grimace taking over. "_That_ was long over."

"What happened?" Zara pried, concern lacing her voice. "I thought… I mean, you seemed excited about it."

"I was," Claire replied tightly, not wanting to replay the events of the previous evening. As much as her unfortunate visit to Paddock 11 had sucked, at least it had been a solid distraction from the rest of the night. She sat down at her desk, opening her laptop, before looking back up at Zara. "And now I'm not."

"What happened?" Zara repeated, sitting down opposite Claire, the concern in her voice now also apparent in her expression.

"I _really_ don't want to talk about it," Claire stated firmly. "It happened. It won't be happening again. Let's move on."

o-o-o

It was a couple more days before Owen heard the rumours that had started circulating. He wasn't all that plugged into the gossip chain on the island, but as the population of workers was relatively small, invariably news got around. But that night he'd gone out to one of the pubs on the island (_not_ Margaritaville) with some of the other paddock workers, and, as usual, after a couple of rounds of drinks, talk turned to the latest island gossip.

Gossip about Claire Dearing wasn't unusual. She seemed to be a popular topic, one he'd assumed was largely centered around the fact that she was female, successful and beautiful, although not necessarily in that order. The comments usually ranged from being annoyed at some new policy she had implemented to speculation as to what she was really like (most people didn't normally interact with her) to outright crass comments about how she'd got her job. Like most of the gossip Owen heard, he'd often chuckle over it before dismissing it as people just venting their frustrations, and not actual truth.

However, the gossip going around this time seemed oddly specific and, to his dismay, a little too accurate, if misinterpreted. Someone, somehow, knew about their date. He wasn't sure who started the rumours, but it wasn't him. He hadn't told anyone the details, especially after his conversation with Barry and some self-reflection. He didn't think he came off all that well over the evening, either. But whoever had started it knew that they'd been on one, and knew, with reasonable accuracy, what had happened. He was a little surprised that his name wasn't being mentioned. Then again, people seemed to prefer to gossip about Claire, and the interest in the rumors seemed to be centered around people's surprise that she had even _gone_ on a date, and that her actions on the date just confirmed previous speculation – that she was cold and heartless.

He listened to the other guys at the table laugh over the gossip, many contributing additional stories and speculation, or trying to connect the newest information with past stories that had been shared ad nauseam before. He wasn't really sure what he should do. It wasn't like they were _only_ laughing at Claire, they were also making fun of the poor guy who'd taken her out. If he said something, he'd probably be outing himself. Instead, he busied himself with his beer bottle, fingers pulling at the label.

"You're really not going to say anything?"

Owen looked up to see Barry sliding onto a chair across from him. He paused, before shrugging dismissively. "Why would I say anything?"

"I'm not stupid, Owen," Barry groaned at his friend.

"What can I say? They're just rumours. No one really believes all this crap."

"Right," Barry rolled his eyes.

"Hey," Owen tried to sound offended, but it came out weak. He knew Barry was right. He _should_ be saying something. Should be setting the record straight. Showing that he really was above all this. But even knowing that he should, actually doing so wasn't easy. Besides, he was pretty sure that Claire didn't listen to gossip anyway.

"She might think you started it," Barry pointed out a couple minutes later, after the rest of the group had burst into laughter as one member pretended to be Claire on the date, acting all high and mighty.

"Yeah well," Owen shrugged. "She's going to think whatever she wants, no matter what I say.'

"You know, I'm no longer sure you deserve her."

"Yeah, me either," Owen muttered, downing the rest of his beer. He pushed back from the table, empty bottle in hand. "You want another?"

* * *

_Thanks for taking some time to read this. I've got the whole story mapped out and it's working out to be a long one. I hope you'll stick with me for the journey. This chapter is definitely more clawen, but I promise _lots_ of dinosaur stuff coming. And lots of other characters - Hoskins, Wu, Zara, Barry, Karen, Zach, Gray. :) _

_If you enjoyed it, please don't forget to bookmark, follow, and, most of all, drop a comment below. Your feedback means the world. _


	2. Chapter 2

_Karen, and Zach, and Gray, oh my! :)_

**Chapter 2**

It wasn't that Claire didn't like her sister or her family, it was just that every time they got on the phone it invariably led to questions that Claire didn't know how to answer and topics that just left her feeling like a failure. Here she was, the Operations Manager of a hugely successful theme park that had brought back an entire extinct species and yet all it took was a few words from her sister for her to feel like she was less than an inch tall. What was it about family that gave them that power?

However, she'd been ignoring Karen's emails, text messages, and phone calls for almost two weeks now, and when her phone rang that evening, she knew she couldn't put it off any longer. It would be just like her sister to find some way to get a hold of someone she worked for – like Mr. Masrani himself – and pester them to get her to call her. It sucked, sometimes, being the youngest, as it felt like your family never acknowledged that you had grown up, the way they did with the oldest.

"Hi Karen," Claire greeted her sister brightly, trying to put some false cheer into her voice, like she was happy to be answering her phone. "I'm glad we've finally connected."

"I know you've been avoiding me," Karen responded. "I know you too well Claire, don't think I'll just brush it aside."

"Sorry," Claire dropped the fake cheer. "I've been–"

"Busy, yeah, heard that one before."

Claire raised an eye at the bitter tone coming through the phone now. _That_ wasn't expected. "Karen, are you okay?"

"No, not really," Karen sighed.

Claire stayed silent, waiting to see what her sister would say next. There was a long pause, before Karen finally spoke up again.

"Scott and I are talking about separating."

"What?!" This time, Claire wasn't faking anything, her shocked tone completely real. Karen had been with Scott since Claire was a teenager, and he'd been almost like a brother to Claire. She could barely remember life without him in it. Huh, apparently she _had_ managed to cut out her family more successfully then she'd ever thought, as this was definitely unexpected news.

"It's been… we've been fighting for years, Claire. We've tried counselling. It's not getting any better. Zach doesn't like to be at home anymore, Gray's almost a teen…"

"Well, most teens don't like to be at home, what does that have to do with you guys deciding to separate?"

"It's… I don't know how to explain it Claire, you haven't been here."

It was an unexpected jab, and Claire felt it like it was a physical. She hadn't been there. She'd purposefully avoided all family interactions, claiming work and meetings and no time off to back out of them. In fact… in fact she couldn't even remember the last time she'd seen her sister in person. Oops. "I know. I'm sorry. It's just–"

"–Work comes first," Karen finished for her, ending on another long sigh.

"Yeah," Claire shrugged, even though her sister couldn't see. "I am sorry though. I didn't realize it had got that bad."

"Yeah, well, 50% and all that," Karen replied. "But that's not actually why I've been trying to get a hold of you. Or not the _main_ reason."

"Oh?"

"I was hoping, _we_ were hoping, that you might be able to have the boys out for a visit."

Claire froze, not really sure how to respond. Kids? Visiting her? Not alone, right? "You'd come too, right?"

"No," Karen was quick to answer. "We thought that it might be easier on them, if we dealt with some of the separation stuff while they weren't here."

"I don't know how to take care of kids, Karen!" Claire could feel the panic rising in her, and she hadn't even said yes yet. How old were they? Zach was a teen, and what did Karen say, Gray almost was one? What grades would that put them in?

"You'd just have to keep them company, take them around the park, show off the dinosaurs. Gray's nuts about dinosaurs. They don't need a babysitter, they just need an aunt."

"But I…" Claire stammered, unsure how to proceed. How could she get out of _this_?

"Please Claire." It was Karen's voice begging that did her in. She couldn't say no that, had never been able to.

"Fine," Claire grumbled. "When would they be coming?"

"We're thinking the week after Christmas," Karen said hesitantly. "Would that work?"

_No_, Claire's mind was screaming, but she answered calmly, "I think so. Let me look into what the hotel availability is like. I don't have space in my place."

"Oh, we can book them a room."

"Don't be crazy Karen. If you figure out their flights and get me the info, I'll sort out everything else." Well, Zara would, but Claire wasn't about to admit _that_ to her sister.

"Thanks Claire, they'll be so excited when we tell them."

"I'm looking forward to it." Claire really hoped that came out sounding sincere.

Karen laughed. "You're not, but you've got time to get excited about it. You haven't seen them in _years_, Claire."

"I know, I'm just… I'm not good with kids."

"Only because you never allow yourself to be around them," Karen dismissed her concerns. "You're their aunt. These aren't just random kids running around. It'll be different, I promise."

"Right," Claire rolled her eyes and was glad, again, that Karen couldn't see her. "Besides Scott, how are things going?"

"Everything's pretty much the usual here," Karen admitted. "Routine and all that. What about you? Besides being busy, are you managing to take _any_ time for yourself? Maybe go out with some friends?"

"I like my work," Claire stated firmly, trying to stop the conversation. Now _this_ was a topic she'd expected and one she'd been dreading.

"You know what they say about all work and no play…" Karen laughed.

"So I'm dull," Claire sighed. "Trust me, that's not the worst thing being said about me."

There was a pause before Karen asked, "Are _you_ okay?"

"Of course," Claire replied immediately.

"Seriously Claire, are you? Have you got out recently?"

"I went on a date on the weekend," Claire defended herself. "I'm fine."

"A date? _Really_?" Karen's tone made Claire wince.

"You don't have to sound so shocked about it," she grumbled.

"How did it go?" Karen pried, ignoring Claire's comment.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"You're the one who brought it up."

"It just… I don't know," Claire sighed. She hadn't actually talked about the date with anyone, managing to avoid Zara's prying for long enough that she'd eventually given up. Maybe it would help to talk it over with someone? "I thought… I guess maybe I should've believed his reputation."

"Reputation?" The question was asked hesitantly, as if scared of the answer.

"Not a bad one," Claire countered. "Well, it didn't _sound_ bad, not when I asked around. Owen's well liked but known to be a bit of a ladies man–"

"Oh no, really Claire?"

"It's not like that," Claire said. "I asked. No one had anything bad to say about him. It sounded like the reputation was more just the fact that he was comfortable around women and women liked to be around him."

"Still doesn't really sound like the kind of guy you'd go for. What's he do? Sales and marketing? Sounds like a PR type of guy."

"Actually he's an animal behaviourist."

"Really?" Karen's response was drawn out, stretching the word like she was uncovering something from within.

"Yes, really. I don't only date suits."

"You don't date," Karen was matter-of-fact.

"Yeah, well, you try living on an island where pretty much everyone you could date is your employee."

"What happened on the date?" Karen deflected again.

"He showed up in board shorts. And then took me to Margaritaville, where he ordered for me and then acted like I was on a diet when I turned down tequila." Claire couldn't help the disgust that crept into her voice as she recounted it. Almost a week later it didn't sound any better than it had that night.

"Sounds like maybe you guys got some wires crossed on expectations," Karen supplied – unhelpfully in Claire's opinion.

"Right, the ones where I thought he asked me on a date, and the ones where he apparently thought we were just going to 'wing it.'" Claire's tone was bitter.

Karen's laughter was immediate. "Oh, this guy didn't know you at all, did he. I'm sorry Claire. Some dates just aren't great. It's not the end of the world. There will be others."

"Yeah, I know, it's just…" What she hated most of all about the date, was that she still wished it had turned out differently. It wasn't turning out to be as easy to just put it behind her and move on as she had expected. She was thankful everyday that she rarely had any reason to cross paths with Owen, as she wasn't sure how she'd react.

"Sounds like he got under your skin," Karen commented. "That's not a _bad_ thing, you know. Maybe you just need to give it another shot. Try to uncross those wires."

"Yeah, right," Claire scoffed. "That's not going to happen."

"It wouldn't hurt you to be a bit more flexible, you know," Karen said after a moment of silence. "You can be awfully rigid in your way of thinking. It's hard for people to know how to react to that."

"I get it," Claire snapped, unable to help it as her frustration and anger over the date and now Karen's prying came to a boil. "I'm just too hard to deal with. Too high maintenance. Too much of an ice bitch or whatever they're calling me now. Forget it Kar, I shouldn't have even told you about it. I need to go."

"Hey, wait–"

"I've got stuff to work on and it's already getting late."

"C'mon Claire, you know I didn't mean it like that."

"Yeah, well, when things keep turning out the same, sometimes you've got to realize that the only common denominator in the equation is you. It's fine. I've got more important things to deal with than finding someone to date."

Claire didn't give her sister a chance to respond, ending the call. She waited, expecting it to ring again immediately, expecting Karen wouldn't give up that easily. But it didn't. Instead, a couple minutes later it beeped, announcing a new text message.

**I'm sorry Claire. Just don't let one bad date ruin them all. It'll happen.**

And then a second, before she could respond.

**I'll work out the flights this week with Scott and send you the info asap. Thanks so much for taking them.**

Ugh, Claire wanted to throw her phone in frustration. She'd already forgotten she'd agreed to take the boys. This was not turning out to be her week.

o-o-o

Standing on the catwalk, bucket of dead rats at his feet, Owen watched as a pig burst out of the bushes, squealing loudly and heading straight for the small escape hatch. The bushes behind the pig were still rustling, and moments later he watched the four raptors spring out, racing after the pig.

"Hold!" Owen called down, his voice steady, strong, and commanding. But as they had every day that week, the raptors continued forward, racing beneath the catwalk towards the hatch. Owen sighed, turning around watching as they scratched at the now closed door, trying to break through. He knew he should call out to them again; try to get their attention. He just didn't have the energy. Not today, not after this week.

"You giving up?"

Owen looked over to see Barry walking towards him. He waited until his friend was leaning against the railing at his side, looking down at the raptors, who had mostly given up on the hatch now and were milling about. "I think we've hit a wall."

"Just need to break through it," Barry commented.

"Tell that to the raptors," Owen groaned. "I swear they're doing this out of spite."

A round of chirping and chittering from below had the two men refocusing their attention on the raptors. They were now staring up at them, waiting.

"Really?" Owen scoffed, looking down at them. "You think I'm going to reward you for _that_?"

The volume from the raptors increased as he continued to watch them, Delta and Charlie both starting to screech and Echo pacing around huffing, while Blue just stared at him, holding steady.

"That's not going to work," Owen shook his head. "I'm not _that_ much of a softy." He stood up, turning back around to pick up the bucket of rats from the catwalk. He walked forward for about a dozen steps before he heard Barry laughing behind him. Pausing, Owen turned back to look at Barry with a questioning gaze.

"They may not want to _listen_ to you, but they sure do follow you," Barry commented, nodding over the edge, where he'd been watching as the four raptors had been trailing after Owen, eyes glued to the bucket.

"They're not following _me_," Owen huffed. "They're following the food."

"Well, you gotta start somewhere," Barry remarked moving to catch up with Owen. The two continued forward, now moving along the catwalk that wrapped around the outer edge of the paddock.

As they got closer to the area where the staircase was, the raptors, who had been trailing pretty silently behind them, started to vocalize again. With each step the two men took, the volume steadily rose.

"Fine!" Owen growled, stomping as he turned around to face them. He reached into the bucket, pulling out a rat, annoyed. One by one, he tossed four rats into the cage, each one aimed at a different raptor. "Satisfied?" he snarled, once they'd all been fed, before turning and stomping down the stairs. Barry tried to muffle his laughter as he followed Owen down.

"You're so whipped."

o-o-o

Claire tried to get to the control room at least three times each day: first thing in the morning, sometime mid-day, and again close to when the main attraction areas of the park were closing for the day. She found that with those check ins it was rare that she missed hearing about any events that happened. It always seemed to be on the days where she had to skip one, that something would go down that she wouldn't be informed of until days (or in one case over a week) later, when it was too late for her to quickly intervene. Now, when she had to miss a check in, she'd start to feel antsy, her mind filling with possibilities of what could be going wrong, and clouding her judgement.

Today, she'd missed her morning check in, having to take a last minute super important investor call. Or so the investor claimed. The call had turned out (no surprise) to be much less important than the investor had implied, and had just started her entire day on the wrong foot. She'd snapped at Zara, and spilled coffee on her blouse, so she was now wearing a blazer to cover up the mark, even though it was really too hot for it. She'd forgotten to replace her spare blouse the last time she'd had to use it.

Claire was finally stepping into the control room just after 1 pm. She headed for her usual spot, behind and between Lowery and Vivian. Everyone in the room was responsible for monitoring various aspects of the park, from keeping on top of garbage collection, to ride maintenance, and animal feedings. But Lowery and Vivian focused on guests and any interruptions that could affect guest satisfaction. If something was going wrong enough that she would need to step in, it was usually because it was directly impacting guests. Her focus on guest satisfaction was why it had remained in the 90s ever since she'd taken over as Operations Manager, a fact she was immensely proud of. Take care of the pennies and the dollars would take care of themselves, was a line she'd heard repeated ad nauseam from her dad growing up, and it was one she had taken to heart. Although, in this case, it was more take care of the guests, and the rest of the park would take care of itself.

As she came to a stop behind them, Lowery turned towards her, giving her a quick look up and down. Unlike most men, she never felt like she was being undressed when Lowery did that. His gaze felt more like an evaluation, like he could sum up her mood and day just from the quick look over. And, to her annoyance, he had been getting pretty good at it.

"What happened?" Lowery asked, causing Vivian to turn in her chair to also look at Claire. "Food or drink?"

"Coffee," Claire sighed, crossing her arms over her chest, both in self defense and also to hide the little bit of the stain that she knew the blazer didn't cover.

"Hmm," Lowery hummed, turning back to his monitor. "We were wondering what kept you today."

"Phone call," Claire muttered, stepping forward to peer at the big display screen. "Anything I should know about?"

"Pretty average," Lowery shrugged. "The heat's been a bit of a killer," he paused to give her blazer a look again, "and so we've got 45 down with heatstroke. Also, the waterpark and pool are extra crowded today, but it's meant that the wait times for the rest of the rides are down."

"Are there enough lifeguards on duty?" Claire question immediately, her mind calculating if additional workers would be needed.

"Yes," Vivian spoke up. "We called in one extra one for the pool and three extras over at the waterpark."

"What about the assets? How are they doing?" Claire shifted her attention.

"So far, so good," Lowery shrugged.

"The handlers have been doling out some frozen treats for them today to help with both the heat and keep them hydrated," Vivian added. "The guests have been quite interested in that, so we've set up a schedule for these special feedings, and they're being broadcast across the park."

"Good," Claire nodded. Now that it was November, it thankfully meant that the rainy season was coming to an end. On one hand, it was a relief to get a break from the sometimes daily non-stop storms, but on the other, it meant that the occasional heat waves that would sweep through took longer to disappear. After the last few days, she'd be _happy_ for a sudden storm, although, maybe at night, when the guests weren't out and about.

She continued to study the digital map, cameras, and information displayed in front of her, looking for anything out of the ordinary. A camera feed caught her eye. "Is something going on at the raptor paddock?"

"Huh?" Lowery looked up, following her gaze. The raptor paddock was home of the IBRIS research project being conducted by InGen, and therefore was something that he and Vivian, and most of those in control, had very little to do with. Generally, they ignored everything going on there, as it was off limits to guests, and those at the paddock would reach out if they needed something.

Now, looking at the camera feed, he realized the open space beside the paddock looked busier than normal, crowded by vehicles. Lowery flipped through a few screens, trying to see if he could dig up any more information. "Quarterly vet check up," he announced a minute later. "Nothing unusual."

Claire hummed in acknowledgement, her gaze still focused on the feed.

"Keeping tabs on him, are you?" Lowery said, not so subtly alluding to Claire and Owen's date. She really wished news about it hadn't got around. She'd heard the gossip that had circled afterwards. She didn't pay much attention herself, but Zara had filled her in, wanting her to know. She was annoyed (but not surprised) that it had all focused on her, with Owen's name never getting mentioned. Unfortunately, there were a few, like _Lowery_, who seemed to have figured out _who_ she'd gone on the date with. She hadn't asked him how he knew; she wasn't sure she wanted to know.

Claire didn't dignify that with a verbal response, just giving him a glare when he looked up at her. Lowery raised his hands in a semi-apology, before turning back to his screen. "Sorry. Just surprised…"

"I have to keep track of what's happening _everywher_e," Claire stated firmly. "I don't let inconsequential events impact the job."

"Right," Lowery drew out the reply, but was smart enough to say it low enough that Claire wasn't entirely sure she heard it.

Sighing, she stepped back, turning on her heel as she called over her shoulder. "I'll be back in a few hours. Let me know if anything changes."

o-o-o

Nodding, Owen shoved another tortilla chip into his mouth, washing it down with a gulp of beer. Staring at the woman sitting across from him, his main thought was, _would she ever shut up_? As he sat there, tucked away in a booth in Margaritaville, he was trying to remember what it was that had drawn him to her in the first place. Why had he asked her out? And, more importantly, _what was her name_?

What he wouldn't give for an emergency to happen at the raptor paddock _now_, something that would give him an excuse to leave early. Instead, he was stuck nodding along, pretending to be following the conversation and whatever story she was sharing now.

Objectively, he knew that she was attractive. And, like him, she worked directly with the dinosaurs; working with the large herbivores that roamed the gyrosphere area. And she _called_ them dinosaurs, not assets, which was a definite plus in her favour. Not that he was comparing her to anyone else.

Even though they both worked with the animals, they didn't cross paths much. Although, Owen didn't really crossed paths with anyone outside of those working directly at the raptor paddock. This was mostly by choice, as he didn't like to spend too much time in the main Jurassic World area and had specifically chosen his trailer location to be well away from the rest of the employee housing. But, it was also a reality of his work being nearly all-consuming and the hard line of separation that InGen and Jurassic World tried to keep between IBRIS and the rest of the park. As the raptors were a research project and not a tourist attraction, Jurassic World didn't want visitors to even know that they were on the island. To 'prevent unnecessary panic,' or, at least, that was how it was framed.

"What about you?"

Owen tuned back into the conversation to see that the woman was now looking at him expectantly. Crap, he really had no clue what she was asking him. Giving her a smile, he went with, "Yeah, me too." She gave him a bit of a confused look, but didn't ask more, and so he assumed it was a mostly okay answer, if not quite what she had been expecting.

He snuck a glance at his watch, but it was only just after 8:30. Too early to try to pull a "have an early morning" excuse. Also, it was Saturday. While that didn't _really_ mean anything for his work schedule (or possibly hers), it still felt off. He really did need a way to hurry up the evening. He didn't think he could last another couple of hours.

As she launched into another story, thankfully filling the empty silence that was starting to settle over them after his reply, Owen let his thoughts drift again. There was a part of him, a pretty _large_ part actually, that was hoping for the date to end in a hookup. But, as he sat there, unable to pay attention to anything she said, the idea was actually becoming less interesting. And she was becoming less appealing.

Settling back into the booth, he picked up another chip and popped it into his mouth, before finishing his beer and flagging the waitress for another. Maybe he just needed a few more beers and the night wouldn't end up being a total loss. She still seemed interested in him, after all.

o-o-o

Where had the year gone? It seemed like just yesterday she had agreed to host her nephews and yet, somehow, they were already there. She was supposed to have well over a month to prepare for this visit. And she supposed that she'd had, but the time had gone by so quickly, with more incidents at Paddock 11 occupying her attention. It wasn't until she had received a company wide email wishing everyone Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas that she'd even realized it was almost the end of December. Thankfully, she'd been smart and had delegated everything around her nephews visit to Zara, and so she hadn't been left scrambling at the last minute.

They had arrived earlier that day, which she had been reminded of by a text from Zara confirming that she'd met them and they were on their way to the hotel. It was followed up not long after with another text mentioning that the food certificates weren't in the hotel room and that Zara must have left them on her desk and could Claire grab them before they met at 1pm.

It was just after one now, and clutching the envelope she had remembered to pick up, Claire found herself finally hurrying down the steps in the innovation center. She was still running a few minutes behind schedule, after being knocked off it first thing in the morning with her visit to the control room. She hated being late, but what she hated most of all, was that it always seemed impossible to catch up once she was behind. She had been three minutes late for her meeting with the investors from _Verizon Wireless_. Thankfully, they hadn't cared or noticed and it seemed to have gone well. But, answering their questions had pushed her even farther behind.

As she hurried down the staircase, her gaze caught onto Zara and then, darting around her she identified who she thought were her nephews. She was relying on the pictures that Karen periodically sent. She paused on the stairs to call out, "Gray, is that you?"

The preteen she was watching spun around, looking up at her, a grin lighting up his face, calling back, "Aunt Claire!"

She was a little embarrassed at the relief that swept over her, knowing that she'd picked out the right kid. She quickly hurried down the last few steps, moving towards him. To her surprise, he raced towards her, almost bowling her over with a hug. "Whoa!" Claire exclaimed, taking a step back to steady herself, but hugging him back. After a moment Gray pulled back and Claire took the chance to look him over, before her gaze was caught by Zach stepping up beside them. "Oh my gosh, Zach! Last time I saw you, you were like…" Claire used her hand to indicate that he had been much closer to Gray's height. "That must've been what? Three, four years ago?"

"Uh, Seven. Seven years, but, you know, close."

Oh, that definitely stung. Had it really been that long? With the proliferation of pictures that Karen sent, it felt like she had been there watching them grow up. It didn't _feel_ that long. And while Zach looked taller, she had seen recent pictures of him, so he didn't look _older_. Wow, no wonder Karen had been getting on her case more recently about the lack of visits. It wasn't just about the divorce.

Claire decided to ignore the comment, instead focusing on what she could do. "Great, I see that Zara gave you your wristbands. I hope she told you that you can use them to jump all the lines. And this," she passed over the envelope, "is for food. Zara is going to stay with you guys today, just until I'm done working tonight."

"Oh, you're not coming with us?"

She was surprised to see that Gray's shoulders drooped with the question. She really hadn't expected them to be all that excited to hang out with her. She figured that being told they had VIP access to Jurassic World would be more exciting than anything she could offer.

"I can't today," Claire winced. "I have some meetings that I can't reschedule – my boss is here. But," she brightened her expression, trying to look excited, "I've got most of my day cleared for tomorrow. I thought I could show you the control room? Maybe give you some behind the scenes access? That would be… cool, right?"

Gray nodded, if a bit reluctantly, but Zach just looked away, ignoring her. Well, one out of two was still better than she was expecting. She may just survive their visit.

"I'll see you both tonight at 6," Claire added.

"Wait, don't forget you added that dinner…" Zara interrupted.

"Right. Okay, I'll see you tonight at 8. Although," Claire paused, unsure how to ask her next question. All it was going to do was point out just how ignorant about her nephews she really was. Dammit, she should've asked Karen all these questions. Of course, doing _that_ would've resulted in a lecture. Maybe better to face the embarrassment here. "What time do you guys go to bed? The same time? Or…" She was expecting Zach's eyeroll, but she pressed forward anyway. "You know what, it doesn't matter. It's your vacation. I'll be by around 8 and we can sort out tomorrow."

Claire ignored the smirk on Zara's face, knowing that her assistant was having way too much fun with all of this. She wasn't going to deny her it, afterall she had essentially stuck her on babysitting duties for the day. This was the least she could give her.

Before she could contemplate it any further, her phone rang. She glanced at the number. It was the control room and she needed to answer it. While it wasn't usually a good sign when they phoned, it was also her ticket out of the conversation. She looked over at Zara, "Take good care of them, okay? And have a good time." She directed the last comment to all three, as she answered the call, raising the phone up. Turning on her heel, she headed back towards the staircase. "Yeah, no, I'm here. What's happened?"

* * *

_Whew, now we're into the events of JW. They take a few chapters to play out, but are not _quite_ the same as the movie. Subtle changes to start, then dramatic. :) After all, the Indominus doesn't escape. Thanks for everyone who commented, kudo'd or followed. I'm excited to have you all along on the journey with me. It's still barely begun. _


	3. Chapter 3

_Ahh, I realize I've been so completely remiss in acknowledging all the support I've been receiving in writing this fic. **Elise-Collier** and **Nadin** have both been along for the whole journey from when I started with a "hey, so I was thinking" comment through me sketching out the plan, and then beta reading and providing a lot of helpful suggestions and edits. They're also the ones to thank for a lot of the ideas behind the Clawen content - they're constantly pushing me on that side. Both are amazing writers with great JW collections of stories, so if you haven't yet _go check them out_, you won't regret it._

_Note - This chapter is really close to the movie, but is necessary for building up relationships. I didn't want to skip over the content completely. And I did tweak some of tehe dialogue and hopefully added enough other details to keep it interesting. _

**Chapter 3**

When Claire finally left the control room she allowed herself a chance to chuckle over Lowery's comments. "Pepsi-saurus or Tostito-don." She had to admit, they were clever. And, she knew if the companies had their way, that's exactly what these new hybrids would end up being named. She may not be a fan of the name "Indominus rex" but at least it wasn't named after junk food. It would be a brand that Jurassic World would own from the very start; something that the PR people had been practically jumping with glee about.

As she approached the door to the helipad, she paused briefly to regain her composure. Even though Claire had been working at Jurassic world for almost a decade now, and had climbed her way steadily up the ladder, she still felt inadequate around Mr. Masrani. She knew she was good at her job, that she had more than proved her worth, but she didn't always get the feeling that Mr. Masrani saw or acknowledged that.

Climbing into the helicopter, she was surprised that she didn't see Mr. Masrani at first. Not until she heard her name.

"Claire," Masrani said, turning from the pilot seat to look back at her.

Oh god. He was going to _fly_ her there? How necessary was it to take the helicopter? She pasted on a smile. "Mr. Masrani. You're flying. That's… new."

"I got my license," Mr. Masrani said cheerfully, turning back towards the controls.

"Ahem."

The second voice had Claire's gaze jumping over to the co-pilot seat, where she was relieved to see that another man was sitting there.

"Sorry, two more days," Masrani corrected.

Great. That was even better. He wasn't even a certified pilot and he was going to be flying her. She took some comfort in the presence of the flight instructor. At least she wasn't alone. Someone in the helicopter knew what they were doing.

As the door to the helicopter was shut, Claire quickly pulled on her seatbelt, desperate to follow all safety recommendations, and hoped that they'd make it to the paddock in one piece. She should've told him that she'd meet him there.

"So, how's my park?"

Claire's gaze darted back to the front of the helicopter at the question. At least it was a distraction from the very turbulent take off they were currently undergoing. She generally didn't associate helicopters with bumpy rides. This one was definitely promising to be different, unfortunately.

"Great," Claire nodded, even though she wished he'd stop looking back at her and keep his eyes focused out the front. "We're up 2.5% over last year, although that is a little bit below our expectations. Some of that is likely because of the delay with opening the Indominus paddock."

"I can read all the numbers in the reports," Masrani shook his head. "How's the park actually doing? Are the guests having fun? Are the animals enjoying life?"

"Guest satisfaction continues to remain in the 90s," Claire confirmed. "As for the dinosaurs, we don't have a way of measuring their emotional experience."

"Sure you do. You can see it in their eyes."

Claire barely managed to suppress her groan. Like she had time to be looking each dinosaur in the eyes. Did he not realize how many lived on the island? And how many of them would _not_ be happy to stare her in the eye?

Before she could say anything, Masrani had already moved on, talking about his excitement at visiting the Indominus. Again, she suppressed her gut reaction. For all the excitement he claimed to have, the dinosaur had been born almost 10 months earlier, and this was his first visit. It wasn't like they had been hiding it from him, he just hadn't shown this excitement previously. Not until now, when they were finalizing investors and the opening date was inching ever so much closer.

Not soon enough, in Claire's opinion, they were landing, a bit unsteadily, onto the packed gravel area outside the paddock. She watched in sympathy as the flight instructor stumbled out, heading straight for the bushes. Claire was thankful for her iron stomach. She may be feeling off from the ride, but at least she was unlikely to throw up from it.

Moving steadily away from the helicopter, she led Masrani up the stairs to the viewing area that looked down into the paddock. She knew he was taking in all the construction work that was still on-going. Considering they had wanted to be open already, she was sure it didn't look like a good sign. And it wasn't, not really.

"Asset containment insisted that we build the walls higher," Claire informed him. "It's bigger than we expected."

As they entered the viewing room, she continued. "There have been some… speed bumps. It began to anticipate where the food was coming from and one handler almost lost an arm. That wasn't the only incident, and we had to double the handler salaries after they threatened to quit if I couldn't guarantee their safety."

"She's intelligent then?" Masrani walked closer to the window, looking into the paddock.

"For a dinosaur," Claire nodded, moving towards one of the tablets set up near the windows. She tapped on the screen, trying to use the interface to locate the dinosaur.

"And that?"

Claire looked up to see Masrani pointing to the cracked glass in front of her. "It tried to break the glass."

"I like her spirit."

A rustling sound drew their attention, and they looked back into the paddock, watching as some of the trees swayed back and forth, feeling the ground vibrate from the Indominus' footsteps. Soon enough, they could see the Indominus peeking through the leaves in their direction. She listened as Mr. Masrani gasped in surprise.

"I didn't know it was white."

Well, there was confirmation that he hadn't looked at any of the pictures or documents that had been sent along with the monthly updates.

"Can she see us?" Masrani continued.

"They say it can sense thermal radiation. Like snakes."

"I thought there was a sibling?"

"We bred two, in case one didn't survive infancy." The fact that both had survived was still surprising to Claire. Their success rate was still generally less than 50%, even with all the leaps and bounds they had made over the years. It was still much better than the less than 1% success rate she knew the original Jurassic Park had dealt with.

"Where's the sibling?"

"She ate it." Claire turned, catching Mr. Masrani's startled expression at the comment. Cannibalism was not something they had dealt with at Jurassic World before. And, to be honest, Claire still didn't quite understand the handler's explanation for what had happened that day. While she knew it had been caught on camera, so far, she'd managed to avoid having to actually watch it.

"So," Masrani started, taking a couple of steps back from the glass, and looking around the viewing room cautiously. "The paddock's quite safe, right?"

"We have the best structural engineers in the world," Claire nodded.

"Yeah, so did Hammond."

Claire watched as Mr. Masrani continued to stare into the paddock, although she wasn't sure what he was looking at now, as the Indominus had retreated farther back into the trees.

"There's an American Navy man here. Part of a research program one of my companies is running."

"IBRIS."

"Yes," Masrani nodded, looking over at her in surprise. Claire turned away so he wouldn't see her eye roll. Did he really think she didn't know what was happening at her park? "Maybe you know him. Owen Grady."

"I do," Claire replied tightly, trying not to give anything away. She couldn't very well admit that she wished she didn't.

"His animals often try to escape. They are smart. He has to be smarter."

Claire pretended that she didn't hear the pride that flowed through Mr. Masrani's voice, as she muttered under her breath, "He only thinks he's smarter."

"I want you to bring him in. Let him inspect the paddock."

"We have brought in all our top engineers as well as the handlers who work with the Indominus," Claire protested. "I don't think that Mr. Grady can add anything."

"Maybe he sees something we can't," Masrani shrugs. "It never hurts to get another opinion."

"I'm not sure we can afford more delays," Claire added.

"As John Hammond always said, 'spare no expense,'" Masrani brushed aside her concerns.

"I appreciate that," Claire nodded, "but the realities of operating a theme park–"

"Don't forget why we built this place, Claire," Masrani interrupted. "Jurassic World exists to remind us how very small we are."

Feeling small was definitely something that Claire could relate to. Although it wasn't because of the dinosaurs.

o-o-o

Standing on the catwalk, Owen leaned on the railing, staring into the jungle below. Every time they did this drill, he got his hopes up, and so far, every time the raptors had failed. Although, there was a part of him that was starting to think they were doing it on purpose. That they were messing with him. But when he spent too much time contemplating that, he would find himself going in circles, questioning both his own methods and the raptors' intelligence.

He could hear the pig squealing in fear, and knew that it would be bursting out of the bushes soon. At least this pig was still alive – the last one had barely lasted a couple of minutes, having frozen in fear, and the raptors getting an easy kill. That was another factor he couldn't control – they never knew if the pig would actually race for the exit or if the pig would even _find_ it. Owen didn't like putting pigs through the same drill more than once. Even knowing they were just _pigs_, there was a part of him that felt like it was cruel in the first place to stick them through this. And to do it a second time, when they would already know what was coming? Not that the pigs ended up any better off – they were on the island to be used for training and, eventually, as food for the dinosaurs.

As the pig burst out into the clearing, Owen stood up, one hand raised, ready for the first appearance of the raptors. As expected, Blue jumped from the bushes first, and Owen quickly called down, "Hold!" To his relief, today Blue decided to listen, skidding to a halt. As her sisters appeared behind her, they followed her lead.

He knew not to let his surprise and relief show, and he kept his expression neutral. "Hey!" he called down again, gaining their attention, as they all looked up towards him. He forced down the grin that wanted to appear. So far, two for two. Things were looking up.

Owen raised his other hand, holding tightly to his clicker. Clicking it once, he commanded, "Eyes on me." Three heads raised in his direction, but he watched as Blue pawed at the ground, looking away. "Blue!" He clicked the clicker again, finally gaining her attention. It took a few more commands to get them to stay still, with their gaze focused on him. But once he was sure he had their attention, he clicked again, and started moving along the catwalk. "And… we're moving!"

He kept the clicker raised in a tight fist, while his gaze watched the raptors, internally grinning as they followed, their gazes locked on him. He reached the center of the catwalk and turned, moving towards the food bucket that was waiting for him. Stopping in front of it, he called down, "Hold!" Owen counted silently to three, before saying, "That's good. That is _damn_ good." He finally allowed the grin to cross his face as he reached into the bucket, pulling out a dead rat.

As he raised the rat, he clicked and said, 'See, Charlie, that's what you get!" And then tossed the rat to the raptor, who leapt up to catch it. He followed up quickly with rats for Echo and Delta. Holding up the last one, he paused, looking down at his beta. "Blue? This one's for you." He tossed it high in the air, watching as Blue snatched it and swallowed it whole.

"Hold!" he commanded again, once they were all done. "Eyes up!" He waited for them all to focus on him, silently counting out a small delay again before releasing them with, "Go!" He lowered the clicker, and watched as the four raptors raced off. Dimly, he could hear cheering coming from around him, and the sound of high fives.

"You finally did it, man."

Owen looked up to see that Barry had joined him on the catwalk. He exchanged grins with his friend. Now that it was done, he could barely believe that they had made it through the whole sequence without any major deflections.

"Owen."

He groaned when he heard Hoskins' voice calling out. He'd forgotten that Hoskins was visiting the paddock today, having managed to put it to the back of his mind. Looking off to the side, he watched Hoskins clapping others on the back as he passed, before approaching them.

"I was starting to think I hired the wrong guys, but damn, you got them eating out of your palm." Hoskins couldn't contain his glee.

Owen tried to brush it off. "You came on a good day. It's not usually a happy ending."

"Is that why you're not sending in your reports?"

"We've been busy," Barry dismissed Hoskins' question.

Owen managed to contain his groan at Hoskins' next line of "Not too busy to cash your paychecks." It was harder to avoid a reaction when Hoskins feinted a punch towards Barry, acting like he was just 'one of the guys.'

"What do you want?" Owen asked.

"A field test," Hoskins went straight to the point.

Owen couldn't prevent his eye roll, so he quickly turned away, moving back along the catwalk. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Barry moving off in the opposite direction.

"Hey, I've just seen they can respond to commands. We need to take the research and get it on its feet," Hoskins insisted, following after Owen.

"These are wild animals, Hoskins. Trust me, you don't want them in the field." Owen continued along the catwalk.

"I just saw a bond. A real bond. Between man and beast," Hoskins said, shifting until he was standing in front of Owen.

"You're in my way," Owen stated.

"Come on. We're the same. We're dogs of war. We know that the military needs to reduce casualties. Some people think that robots are the future," Hoskins said as Owen moved to push past him. It didn't stop Hoskins from continuing. "Look, nature gave us the most effective killing machines 75 million years ago. And now we know they can take orders."

They were finally off the central area of the catwalk, and as they crossed paths with Barry again, Owen passed over the empty rat bucket he was holding.

"Finally we make progress and that's the first thing you say? Make a weapon?" Barry rolled his eyes.

"Shit," Hoskins groaned at the two of them. "Drones can't search tunnels and caves and they're hackable. The minute a real war breaks out, all that fancy tech is going to go dark."

"At least it won't eat them if they forget to feed it," Owen quipped.

"Look. Look at these creatures. They've got millions of years of instinct in their cells. Instinct that we can program. Their loyalty cannot be bought. These guys are gonna run straight into the enemy's teeth and eat them, belt buckle and all."

"And what if they decide they want to be in control?" Barry inquired.

"Well, then we remind them who is. We terminate the rogues. Promote only loyal bloodlines," Hoskins stated matter-of-factly. Owen watched as Barry scoffed, before Barry pushed past them, shaking his head as he walked away. Hoskins turned to Owen, looking confused. "What?"

"You don't get it. You come here and you still don't learn anything about these animals except what you want to know. You made them and now you think you own them," Owen told Hoskins, moving towards the staircase and heading down.

"We do own them. Extinct animals have no rights."

Owen sighed, "They're not extinct anymore." As he reached the bottom of the steps, he picked up his pace, opening the gate to the holding pen between the outside and the interior of the raptor paddock. He quickly shut the gate behind him, locking Hoskins out, trying to get away from him.

"You know this is gonna happen. With or without you boys. Progress always wins," Hoskins called after him.

"Yeah, well maybe progress should lose for once," Owen replied over his shoulder, not bothering to look at Hoskins, as he fiddled with the raptor harnesses, trying to look occupied. He was realizing now he'd just penned himself in, trapped for Hoskins to continue to blather at him.

The sound of a pig squealing barely caught his attention, as it wasn't an unusual sound around the raptor paddock. But the immediate shouts of "Pig loose! Pig loose!" had Owen spinning around, looking into the paddock. He watched as a pig sprinted across the clearing, just in time to see one of the new techs run onto the catwalk to try and catch it. Before he could shout out "No" and stop the guy, Echo had grabbed the pig, causing the man on the catwalk to flip over the railing and fall in. Owen froze for a second, watching as the guy fell and hit the ground with a loud smack. Thankfully, the tech was quickly pushing himself up, scrambling backwards towards Owen and the gate.

Owen sprung for the release button, opening the gate. He scrambled through as soon as there was enough space, throwing himself between the tech and the raptors, eyes darting from the raptors up to the ACU men storming the catwalk, guns held at the ready. He barely heard Barry calling out to him, too focused on raising his fist and stopping the raptors. "Hold!"

He looked up at the ACU men, before repeating the call for them. "Hold your fire. Do not fire. If you put 12 amps in them, they're never gonna trust me again."

Owen switched his gaze back to the raptors. He could feel his senses tunneling, all his energy and focus directed at the raptors, everything else fading away.

He stared directly at Blue, trying to look confident and sure, even if it was only just now sinking in what he'd done. He hadn't been in the same physical space as the raptors in over a year and a half. Once they'd reached his waist, it had been clear that their combined strength was too much for him to safely interact with them face-to-face, and he had transitioned to the catwalk. It had been a decision he had agonized over, knowing that the move was going to interrupt their training, and set them back a few steps. It still felt like he'd never gained the same level of respect he had had when he was in the cage with them. Like they understood the move had been done for his safety, and it just emphasized their own strength.

"Blue, stand down. Stand down. Hey! Hey! What did I just say?" Blue was in the center, which worked out well, as she was the one Owen knew he needed to get under control first. He knew the others would follow Blue's lead. She was the one he had bonded with the most. The only one of them, who as a baby had been concerned for him when he would appear hurt, instead of using the opportunity to attack. He was relying on that empathy now.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Delta snarl, and lifted up his other hand towards her, turning his head briefly to state firmly, "Delta, I see you. Back up!" He knew he couldn't focus on Delta for long, not with Blue still unsettled, and after giving Delta a menacing stare which she took a half step back from, he quickly shifted his gaze back to Blue. He could feel his hands going sweaty, and was grateful there was nothing he was expected to hold on to.

Remembering Charlie, he quickly darted his gaze to the right, only to find that Charlie was closing in. He did not have enough hands for this. "Charlie? Stay right there…" He tried to keep his tone strong and commanding, hoping that the pleading he could hear wasn't apparent to the raptors. When Charlie paused, he quickly said "Good," trusting that she'd recognize and remember the word of praise. What he wouldn't give for a bucket of rats right now.

He hadn't been able to check on the tech's movements as he'd been so focused on the raptors, and had ceased to recognize anything else. Now, tuning back into the world as a whole, Owen realized he could hear Barry calling to him, telling him he needed to get out and he knew that the tech must be safe. It was Owen's turn to try and get out in one piece. He started shifting slightly in the direction of the gate. The moment he moved backwards even an inch, he saw the three raptors creep forward. He was going to have to do this fast. And he was only going to get one shot at it. He really hoped the ACU team would continue to hold off. He hadn't heard the gate close, which meant it must still be almost fully open behind him, and _that _meant it was more than wide enough for the raptors to also escape. He called over his shoulder. "Close the gate."

"Are you crazy?" Barry shouted.

"Just trust me!" Owen didn't have time for this. Until the gate was low enough to prevent the raptors from escaping, there was nowhere safe for him to move. He listened for the gate, and was just about to ask Barry to close it again, when he finally heard the sound of it. He backed up a few more steps, gaze still focused on the raptors, hands up trying to hold them back, as they continued to move forward with him. He paused, trying to estimate how low the gate was. He couldn't risk looking, which meant he wasn't going to be able to actually know. And if it got too low… he really didn't want to die this way.

Owen took a deep breath and then leapt backwards, rolling through the gate. His timing couldn't have been any better, considering he felt the edges of the gate graze the back of his vest as he tumbled through. He was barely aware that he was inside when there were three loud _clangs_ as the raptors crashed into the gate behind him. He really hopped this wasn't going to end up undoing all the progress they had made earlier.

He could feel something tugging on him, and looked up to see Barry pulling on his arm, and he let Barry help him to his feet. "I'm okay," Owen reassured him. He listened as Barry said something in French, just nodding along, getting the gist of it, even if he didn't understand the phrase. "Yeah," Owen said in agreement.

After a moment, Owen turned towards the young tech. "You're the new guy, right?"

"Yeah."

"You ever wonder why there was a job opening?" Owen watched as the guy paled further. But he wasn't done. What the guy had done was stupid. And it had almost got him _and_ Owen killed. "Hey!" Owen called out sharply, getting the tech's attention again. "Don't ever turn your back to the cage." Owen nodded behind the guy, who looked over his shoulder to see Blue pressed up against the cage, snarling at him.

Owen moved towards the outer gate, letting himself back out, ignoring Hoskins who was still staring in awe. Owen just knew this was _not_ going to help his case that these raptors were not ready for a field test. It would be too easy for Hoskins to spin this as a success.

* * *

_Next up - the infamous bungalow scene! That was interesting to write because, on reflection, it's not a scene that shows Owen at his best._


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Hanging up the phone with Karen, Claire couldn't help but think that today was just not her day. Not only was she running late, but she'd had to survive a second helicopter ride with Mr. Masrani back to the control room so she could pick up her car. Since he had insisted that she contact Owen Grady, she had also been forced to scramble and rearrange all her afternoon plans to fit it in.

Now, not only had she told Zach and Gray earlier that she'd spend tomorrow with them, she had just promised her sister the same thing, so her original plan to catch up on today's work tomorrow was also falling through. Sighing heavily, she resigned herself to the fact that she was going to have to cut back on sleep if she was going to have any hope of getting back on top of everything. And _that_ was assuming nothing else went wrong – she might have to give up sleep altogether. Although, dammit, did she just tempt fate?

As she pulled onto the lot that Owen called home, Claire reminded herself that she could at least be thankful that Karen had distracted her from this visit. She could've spent the whole car ride fuming over it, as she had during the first half when she had driven all the way out to the raptor paddock only to be annoyed that he wasn't there. Now, as she put the car in park, she could see Owen sitting on an upturned bucket fiddling with his motorcycle. She saw his gaze flicker over to the car briefly, before he looked away.

Getting out, she couldn't help herself, checking over her reflection in the car window. If he didn't want to see her, fine. She didn't want to be there either. But she wasn't going to let him know that. She would put on her business face and make it through this whole interaction without letting him phase her. She could be the cold bitch everyone believed she was.

Walking towards him, Claire called out. "Mr. Grady. I need you to come take a look at something."

She watched as his gaze flickered over to her again, an eyebrow raised. "Why are you calling me Mr. Grady?"

"Owen," Claire corrected, resisting an eye roll. "If you're not too busy."

"I'm pretty busy," Owen replied, lifting a bottle of coke and taking a sip.

Claire clenched her teeth, pasting on a smile, and ignoring his passive aggressiveness. "We have an attraction–"

"That's not what you said the last time I saw you."

Okay, that sounded… accurate, considering their last interaction had been at the end of their ill-fated date. But, she wasn't going to let him needle her. She wasn't there to rehash that out again. It was over and in the past. She had moved on. He could too. "I'm talking about the dinosaurs, _Mr. Grady_." She emphasized his name this time, hoping to get a slight dig in and point out that she was there for professional reasons, not personal.

"Owen."

She suppressed another eye roll, watching as he got up, walking towards her. She would just stay on topic. She could do this. "We have a new species we've made–" Claire started, before having to duck back, as a fly chose that moment to start buzzing around her head.

Owen came to a stop in front of her, and she watched as his hand darted out, catching the fly. She offered him a smile of thanks, to be polite, only to want to turn it into a grimace at his next line.

"You just went and made a new dinosaur?"

"Yeah it's kind of what we do here," Claire stated. "We're hoping to have the exhibit ready to open to the public in two months. Mr. Masrani wanted me to consult with you."

"You wanna consult here or in my bungalow?"

She probably should've expected the line. It was just the kind of joke she should expect from him. Claire allowed herself an eye roll this time, before stating blandly, "That's not funny."

Owen chuckled, moving past her as he said, "It's a little funny."

As he headed up the steps around the one building on the lot (was this what he considered his bungalow? It was definitely more of a shack), she followed after him, trying to get back to the reason she was there. "We'd like you to evaluate the paddock for vulnerabilities."

"Why me?" Owen called over his shoulder, as she watched him disappear around the back of the bungalow.

"I guess Mr. Masrani thinks since you're able to control the raptors–" Claire started.

"It's all about control with you," Owen interrupted, coming back into sight, walking towards her. "I don't control the raptors. It's a relationship." He paused briefly in front of her, giving her a quick look up and down before he stated, "It's based on mutual respect." He moved forward, passing her to head back down the steps, before tossing a final barb, almost as an afterthought. "That's why you and I never had a second date."

She couldn't help her reaction, blurting out "Excuse me?" before she even really processed his words. Was he really implying that _she_ hadn't respected _him_? Unsure how to strike back, she went with "I never wanted a second date."

"Who prints out an itinerary for a night out?" Owen chuckled, sitting back down on the bucket to work on his motorcycle.

"I'm an organized person," Claire shrugged. Well, at least she knew he was never going to let _that_ go. Maybe the fact their date had been bad had been a blessing after all.

"Hell, what kind of a diet doesn't allow tequila?" Owen continued.

"All of them, actually," Claire replied swiftly. "Besides, I never _said_ I was on a diet. That was just you jumping to conclusions." It was the first line she said that seemed to strike home, as he glanced over at her. She quickly added on, "And what kind of a man shows up to a date in board shorts?"

"It's Central America. It's hot," Owen shrugged, turning back to his motorcycle.

Yeah, she probably should've expected that wouldn't land. He was too cocky for that to impact his sense of pride. Taking a deep breath, Claire reminded herself why she was there. "Okay. Okay. Can we just focus on the asset, please?"

"The asset?" Owen got up, moving back towards her, looking annoyed. "Look, I get it. You're in charge out here. You gotta make a lot of tough decisions. It's probably easier to pretend these animals are just numbers on a spreadsheet. But they're not. They're alive."

This was the second time today someone had felt the need to reminder her the dinosaurs were alive. Did everyone really think she was that stupid? "I'm fully aware they're alive."

"You might have made them in a test tube, but they don't know that. They're thinking, 'I gotta eat. I gotta hunt. I gotta…'" Owen gave a crude gesture, pumping his fist. "You can relate to at least _one_ of those things. Right?"

Claire pursued her lips, fighting back the reaction that was building inside of her. Did he really just imply…? Was he honestly saying that he thought that she was… what? A sexless ice bitch, like everyone liked to gossip? When he'd asked her out, when he'd already knew her name, she'd assumed that he'd heard the rumours (who hadn't). But she'd also assumed that he'd chosen to disregard them as being just that, rumours. Now… now she wasn't sure what to think. And she was feeling even _more_ confident in her remark about not wanting a second date. If this is what he was normally like? Yeah, no thanks.

She walked down the few steps towards him, stopping on the bottom step that left her at eye level. "I'll be in the car." She paused, wrinkling her nose, and then finished with, "You might want to change your shirt. They're very sensitive to smell."

Claire stepped around him, before striding confidently towards her car. Now that she knew he couldn't see her, or at least couldn't see her expression, she bit her lip and clenched her fists in front of her, holding back the scream she wanted to let loose. This was _really_ not her day.

o-o-o

He changed his shirt.

He debated _not_ changing his shirt, just to piss her off, but, she was right. It _did_ smell. It wasn't like he'd put on the cleanest shirt he owned for working on his bike, knowing that oil stains were likely. And, he'd been putting off laundry for a few days and had had to grab a shirt out of the hamper.

But it's not like Owen had been _expecting _her visit. In fact, he was surprised she even knew how to find his place. He had been pretty sure she'd erased all knowledge connected to him after their date. They hadn't crossed paths since that unfortunate night. And, besides the gossip that had circled about their date for a few weeks, he hadn't heard much about her. He had chosen to focus his time and energy on the raptors. As earlier today had shown, it was starting to pay off.

Exiting his trailer, he climbed into Claire's car, noticing that she was tapping her fingers against the steering wheel. Nervous energy or frustration over the delay, he wasn't sure. He just fastened his seatbelt, settling back in the seat as Claire quickly pulled out of his lot.

The first few minutes went by in silence. Owen wasn't sure how to start a conversation. Or, really, if he even wanted to. He was still replaying their previous conversation in his head. He stood by his comments that bringing an itinerary to a date was patently ridiculous and that there was nothing wrong with board shorts. But he was more hung up on her reaction to his comment about respect. It had be the one time her expression had faltered, her response feeling unscripted and real. Well, the emotion in the response had felt real.

He also wasn't really sure how to take her comment about the second date, and was sort of kicking himself for even mentioning it in the first place. Not that _he_ wanted one, not after that first date. The first date did exactly what it was supposed to do, show whether or not a second date made sense. And it _didn't_.

Looking out the window, he let out a sigh. This whole day had been a rollercoaster, from the high of the raptors finally following his commands to the unwelcome adrenaline rush of having to enter their cage. It felt fitting that he'd have to interact with Claire today, of all days.

A small huff from his left drew his attention away from the window, his gaze darting over to Claire's. She was still staring resolutely out the front of the car, focused on the dirt road they were speeding along. He wasn't sure if he was surprised by the fact she was a speedster behind the wheel, or if it really just confirmed what he'd already thought.

"What?" Owen asked.

"Nothing."

"It's not nothing," Owen disagreed.

"Just ready for this day to be over with," Claire said after a moment.

"You and me both," Owen concurred.

"Yours has gone off the rail, too?" Claire asked, sounding surprised as she looked over at him.

"I'm in a car with you, aren't I?" Owen joked. It was the wrong response. He knew it the moment it came out of his mouth, watching as her shoulders tensed and her grip on the steering wheel tightened. He let out another sigh. "Let's just say it was an eventful morning with the raptors and that I'm not normally home in the middle of the day."

"Are you–is everyone okay?" Claire glanced over again, this time taking a couple of seconds to actually look him over.

"Still in one piece," Owen shrugged. Physically, he was fine. He wasn't sure he'd completely processed everything else yet. But, since he'd been trying to _not_ think about it, this side trip actually seemed like a nice distraction. He decided to try to get them onto the topic at hand. "Where are we going?"

"Paddock 11."

Owen could never remember what dinosaurs were kept in what paddock. He was sure the raptors paddock had a number too, but he didn't know what it was. "Which one is that?"

"A new one, near the base of Mt. Sibo," Claire replied. "You haven't heard about it?"

"I don't really pay much attention to any of that," Owen admitted. "The raptors keep me busy, and at the end of the day, I like to put my work aside."

"That's…" Claire trailed off.

"...Nice?" Owen tried to finish for her.

"Yes. No. I don't know," Claire shrugged. "I don't think I can remember the last time my work didn't follow me all hours of the day and night."

"And you wouldn't have it any other way," Owen added.

"What? No. I mean… I love my work. And I've worked hard to be able to do it. I just… that doesn't mean I don't want to take breaks from it."

"When was the last time _you_ took a break?" Owen asked, curious.

"Just over five weeks ago," Claire admitted, with a bit of a wince.

"Five weeks? Surely you get time off more often than that."

"Yeah, well, breaks aren't always as good as they sound," Claire was pointedly refusing to look at him.

What happened five weeks ago? Oh… Owen looked back out his window. He wasn't really sure how to follow that. They rode the rest of the way there in silence.

o-o-o

Pulling her car to a stop, Claire switched off the engine, eager to escape. The silence that had descended over the car for the rest of the drive had felt borderline awkward. She knew Owen had made the connection from the time frame she gave him, and she was annoyed that she hadn't said something else. She should've said six weeks. Or four. She didn't want him to think she'd been focused on their date. Or that it had affected her all that much. She prefered that he assume that she had been able to just put it aside and move on, just like he seemed to have done.

Claire headed straight for the staircase, ready to have this over with. She just needed to give Owen the details and then she figured she could leave him there to do… well, whatever it was he felt necessary. She couldn't see any reason she would need to be there while he did his evaluation. There were others around who could give him access to whatever he needed and answer his questions.

As she started up the stairs, Claire realized that after all that, she hadn't even filled him in on any background yet. "We've been pre-booking tickets for months. The park needs a new attraction every few years in order to reinvigorate the public's interest. Kind of like the space program. Corporate felt genetic modification would up the wow factor."

She heard him scoff from behind her. "They're dinosaurs. Wow enough."

Rolling her eyes, but glad he couldn't see her, Claire corrected him. "Not according to our focus groups. The Indominus rex makes us relevant again."

Owen was out right laughing now, as he repeated the name. "The Indominus rex?"

To be fair, it was a name that Claire had fought against, thinking it was trite and that surely the marketing people could come up with something better. Unfortunately, she had been overruled. Of course, she wasn't about to let Owen know that. "We needed something scary and easy to pronounce. You should hear a four-year-old try to say 'Archaeornithomimus.'' Claire pulled the door open to the inside, stepping back to wave Owen ahead of her.

Owen paused at the top of the staircase to meet her gaze and said: "You should hear you try to say it." Before she could react or say anything, he headed into the viewing area.

"So, what's this thing made of?" Owen asked, as he moved over to one of the windows that looked down into the paddock.

Claire walked to one of the tablet screens, just as she had on her previous visit. She took a quick look into the paddock, but she couldn't seen the Indominus. This would take even longer if it continued to hide. She kept her gaze away from Owen as she responded, already knowing what he was going to say. It's not like _she_ was happy that she couldn't actually answer the question. She'd asked. Multiple times. And had continually been told it was only being shared on a 'need to know basis' and that she 'didn't need to know.' "The base genome is a T. rex. The rest is... classified."

"Wait, you made a new dinosaur but you don't even know what it is?"

Claire knew he'd turned to look at her, even though she was still avoiding looking at him. She could feel his gaze penetrating the back of her head.

She wasn't about to admit to him that she didn't have clearance. "The lab delivers us finished assets and we show them to the public," she replied casually, like there was nothing wrong or abnormal about the situation. Looking into the paddock, she still couldn't find the Indominus. She turned towards Nick, the guard who was sitting at a desk by all the security monitors. "Nick, can we drop a steer, please?"

After she got a nod from him, she finally turned back to Owen, watching as he moved closer to the glass to observe the feeding system that was currently moving half a carcass into the paddock.

"How long has the animal been in here?" Owen asked, stepping right up to the glass.

"All its life."

"Never seen anything outside of these walls?" Owen turned to look at her.

Claire shrugged. "We can't exactly walk it."

"Is it always fed with that?" Owen asked next, turning to look back at the crane, which was now lowering the steer.

"Is there a problem?" Claire asked in return, although she already knew the answer. She'd said it earlier to Mr. Masrani himself. The Indominus had been predicting the feeding schedule. The use of the crane, which had been installed after an unfortunate employee incident, hadn't seemed to make things better. Instead, the animal had seemed annoyed to be delivered food from above, and there had been reports that some of the handlers and guards had been creeped out by her behaviour as she watched the crane move the food across the paddock.

"Animals raised in isolation aren't always the most functional," Owen shrugged. He was back to peering into the paddock. Even though the steer carcass had now been released, there was still no sign of the Indominus.

"Your raptors are born in captivity," Claire reminded him, not sure what the difference was.

"But they have siblings. We make sure they learn social skills. And, just as importantly, I imprinted on them when they were born," Owen moved away from the window he had been looking out, walking the length of the viewing area to get a better look around. "There's trust. The only positive relationship this animal has is with that crane. At least she knows that means food."

Positive relationship? Ha. Of course, she couldn't say that to him. She decided to focus on what he'd said about socialization. Could they make some tweaks there? Find her… a friend? "You're saying she needs a friend. That we need to, what? Schedule play-dates? That sort of thing?"

"That depends, how old is she?" Owen asked. "Did they mess with her growth rate?"

"She was born in March," Claire supplied. "And yes, she's had an accelerated growth rate."

"Hm," Owen hummed, processing the information.

"Where is it?" Claire moved towards the glass, tapping against it lightly. Not that she expected it to do anything. They had designed the glass to be soundproof, not wanting any visitor sounds to spook the Indominus or set her off. As it was, the Indominus had already attempted to break the glass. She didn't need any other encouragement.

"Did she do that?" Owen asked, and Claire startled, not realizing he'd moved back beside her. He was looking at the cracked window.

"Yes."

"Hm," Owen hummed again before moving away, pacing the length of the viewing area.

Claire watched him for a second, before moving back to the tablet. Tapping through the screens she started a thermal scan. "It was just here. We were just here," Claire muttered.

Nick's "Oh shit" comment was quiet, but Claire heard it, as she had moved over to stand near him. Her gaze was focused on the screens mounted on the wall behind him, each representing a different camera in the paddock, as they one-by-one returned a negative result.

"That doesn't make any sense. These doors haven't been opened in weeks," Nick said, staring up at the screens.

She didn't have a chance to respond, Owen's voice drawing her attention to the other end of the room, where he was standing at a window staring out, pointing at something she couldn't see.

"Were those claw marks always there?"

Claire hurried across the room to his side, looking out at the deep scratches scaling the wall. "Do you think it…" she paused to take a deep breath, this wasn't happening. "Oh, god." She turned around, looking back towards Nick, where she could see the screens still flashing '_No thermal signatures detected_' and her heart sank. "She has an implant in her back. I can track it."

She didn't wait for a response from anyone, pulling her phone out and quickly dialing the control room. "Lowery? Get me coordinates on the Indominus," Claire demanded as soon as Lowery answered. While she waited for a response, she looked over at Owen, who was still inspecting the paddock walls. "Do you really think she could've climbed out?"

"Depends what she's made of," Owen said with a shrug. "And how big she is. Is she agile? Has she tried climbing walls befo–"

Claire held up a finger to Owen, pausing him, as she heard Lowery speaking up. "_Uh, she's in her paddock_."

"What do you mean she's in the paddock?" Claire asked, moving closer to the windows that faced the main area, slowly sweeping her gaze over the paddock. She felt Owen come stand beside her and knew he was doing the same. "We ran the thermal scans, they came up empty."

"_I don't know what to tell you Claire, but it's showing her in the paddock. I checked the tracker, it's still active and the last location ping was from…_" There was a pause and Claire knew he was looking it up. "_It just updated again _– _22 seconds ago._"

"That doesn't make sense," Claire said, still seeing no evidence of the Indominus. The steer carcass was lying untouched on the paddock floor.

"What is she made of?" Owen asked again. "Depending what they used…" he trailed off. When Claire turned to him, he added, "there are animals that can modulate their infrared output."

"Thanks Lowery," Claire said distractedly, hanging up even though she could hear Lowery calling out questions.

"You think she…?" Claire turned to Owen, looking both hopeful and fearful over the answer.

"Like I said, it depends what they used to make her," Owen shrugged. He peered at her intently for a moment. "You… don't actually know, do you?"

Claire pursed her lips, wanting to deny it. Not wanting him to know the truth.

"Why are they hiding it from _you_?" Owen asked, turning back to the window.

"The lab delivers us finished assets…" Claire started again, repeating the company line, but she trailed off. Standing there, unsure whether to believe Lowery that the Indominus was in the paddock, but not wanting to doubt him either, the company line felt weak. And she felt like a fool for not having pushed harder. The Indominus was different. It wasn't like not knowing that they used DNA from, say a monkey, to complete the _Gallimimus_. The Indominus was completely designed from scratch. There was no one DNA strand they were trying to complete. "But the claw marks?" Claire asked instead. "What about them?"

"Dinosaurs aren't stupid," Owen replied after a moment. "Well, not all of them. The raptors are very smart. They can problem solve. They can plan."

"You think she… planted the marks?" Claire looked doubtful.

"Well, it's that or she climbed out," Owen held up his hands, palms up, moving them up and down, like he was weighing the options.

"Her tracker shows she's in the cage," Claire reminded him.

"Of course, you're assuming the tracker is still _on_ her."

"Oh god," Claire paled even further. She looked at her phone. Did that mean the Indominus _was_ out? Should she be calling in a Code 19? Asset out of containment? She looked at Owen, "Do you… do you think that's likely?"

"Hard to say having never _seen_ this dinosaur, or having any knowledge of her behaviour," Owen shrugged. "But, I've learned with the raptors not to underestimate their intelligence. How big is she? What's the chance she could sneak by people without them knowing?"

"She's pretty big," Claire said. "Like I said, base genome was the T-rex and she's probably about the same size as Rexy right now."

Owen let out a low whistle. "Hmm, I would say it's unlikely she would've been able to climb out without being noticed."

"How do we confirm?" Claire questioned, although mostly rhetorically, her mind still going through the options.

"We could always go in."

o-o-o

"_Are you crazy?!_"

It had been well over an hour since Claire had turned to him and said those words, a look of horrified shock on her face, but Owen hadn't been able to push them aside. Everytime he glanced into the paddock, they'd pop up again.

He stood by his suggestion that maybe someone needed to go in. In fact, he stood by it even more _now_, since they still hadn't seen any sign of the Indominus. And if she was as large as Claire claimed she was, he was getting more and more impressed every moment she remained hidden from them.

They'd managed to pull up the location of her tracking signal on one of the tablets in the viewing area, and she hadn't moved. Well, she had shifted around a bit on the screen, but the technician had informed him that didn't necessarily equal movement. At his confused look (tech _really_ wasn't his thing), he'd been told that the tracking system had an accuracy of about 2 meters, and so the dinosaur could be expected to be close to the dot on the screen but that it was not uncommon for a stationary object to appear to drift slightly. He had also learned that the trackers were powered by the dinosaurs body heat and movement, so the fact that it was still supplying information was a good indicator that it was still _in_ the dinosaur, as there had been no reason to add a battery so that it would continue to work after the animal died.

In the time between Lowery first informing Claire that the Indominus was still in the paddock and now, a lot had happened. A technician had come out to the paddock to setup the tablets to be able to access the tracking information (why it hadn't been accessible before, Owen had no idea, but hadn't pushed). Claire had left shortly after to go back to control, muttering something about Mr. Masrani and Dr. Wu. And Owen had attempted to do what he'd been brought out to do in the first place – examine the paddock. Of course, having still not _seen_ the dinosaur in question, he was having trouble giving a fair assessment. He needed to not only see her, but preferably also see her moving about. Get an idea for how agile she was. How fast could she move? Could she jump? Could she pick up objects? All questions he still had no answers to.

Now, standing at the window staring into the paddock, he replayed the conversation he'd had with Claire after he'd made his suggestion. And after she'd called him crazy.

"_You want confirmation," Owen had reminded her. _

"_You just said she's an intelligent animal, and now you want to doubt that? Which is it?" Claire had rolled her eyes at him._

"_I never said _she _was intelligent," Owen had defended himself. He didn't _know _how intelligent this dinosaur was. But his experience with the raptors had taught him not to underestimate them. He also wasn't quite sure that the dinosaur could or would be smart enough to create a plan where not only she managed to make it look like she had escaped, but that she had also figured out how to hide from the scanners (and to _know _to do that), and to have found a way to stay hidden from everyone searching for her. _

"_No one's going in there," Claire had stated firmly, pointing a finger at him. "I mean it. There's got to be another way to confirm. She can't stay hidden forever."_

After she'd shot his idea down he asked what he could do to help, and she'd asked him to do what she'd originally brought him out there for – to assess the paddock for vulnerabilities. He'd taken a slow walk around the outside of the paddock. There was one giant door that almost reached right to the top of the walls and he'd immediately made a note that that was a bad idea. Actually, he'd made a more general note when he'd then seen the second, smaller, human-sized entry way, that they needed to implement the double-gated security system that they used at the raptor paddock. If this dinosaur was able to scratch up – _deeply_ scratch up – the reinforced concrete walls, he didn't think a single barrier was enough. He didn't trust it to not attempt to break its way out should either door ever open.

But, as much as he was thinking that, as much as he'd noted it down on his list of things that had to be fixed, he also was getting more antsy the longer the dinosaur managed to stay out of sight.

He believed them that the tracker was in it that the dinosaur was hiding. But that was mainly because he found it harder to believe that she'd managed to actually escape. That she could've climbed out of her paddock, that was surrounded by a construction crew. Not if she was anywhere as big as they were claiming.

There had also been no reports of anyone seeing this dinosaur. So if, by chance, she had got out, she hadn't headed towards any of the populated areas.

What they needed though, was confirmation. They needed to lay eyes on her. To not only confirm she was in the paddock, but to confirm that she was actually okay.

That was Owen's latest concern. He'd looked at the history of the tracker and it was unusual for this dinosaur to stay still during the day. Instead, she had a habit of constantly prowling the paddock, although she did appear to prefer the treed area at the back, away from the viewing windows.

"Any sign of her?"

The voice startled Owen out of his thoughts and he turned to find he'd been joined by a few more people. He recognized the one who had spoken up – Molly Holt. She was a veterinarian who had done shifts at the raptor paddock in the past.

"Nope," Owen said. "The longer this goes…"

"Yeah," Molly nodded. "She's not all that friendly."

"You've seen her?" Owen asked.

"I've been involved in some of her past evaluations," Molly said.

"Do you think she'd be able to climb out?" he questioned, leading her over to the viewing window to show her the claw marks.

Molly let out a low whistle and took a moment to examine them before answering. "She's smart," she said. "And while I'm not sure I like the idea that she's intelligent enough to be this cunning, I actually find it more difficult to imagine her successfully scaling the walls."

"That's what I keep coming back to," Owen stated. "But I haven't seen her yet, so I'm going off some vague descriptions. I need to get a look at her."

"You and me both," Molly nodded.

"She's not hungry," Owen commented. "She hasn't come out for the steer that we dropped. And she's not thirsty, or she's by a water source, because we haven't sensed any movement. Or at least nothing indicative of a large animal. I don't get the impression _she's_ scared of anything – more that everyone is scared of her."

"She can be creepy," Molly agreed. "Did they tell you she's white? It can be… off putting."

"The only thing I keep coming back to, is that someone is going to need to go in. That a chance to escape, opening the doors, is going to be the only thing that might goad her into moving. Well, that and time. But I don't think we can afford to possibly wait her out for days."

"Not if we don't want animal cruelty charges," Molly sighed. "And I don't like that idea anyway. She could be injured. We don't actually know that her lack of movement is by choice."

"So we're going to have to go in," Owen said decisively.

"You want to be the one who tells control?" Molly asked. "I got firm instructions from up high that no one is allowed to enter the paddock."

"Yeah, well, we've run out of options," Owen shrugged. "We'll tell them after."

* * *

_And the story has now _definitely _has diverged from JW. What do you think of Owen's suggestion that they go in? What do you think's going to happen?_


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

"I told you, _I told you_, not to go in there!" Claire worked hard to keep her voice calm. To not let herself start yelling, even though she really wanted to. From the way Owen flinched backwards at her words, she was actually starting to think that her steady tone was more impactful. That he'd be able to brush aside her words if she was yelling. "And look what happened."

"We needed confirmation she was in there," Owen shot back, standing up straighter.

Claire refused to be intimidated by him. He could try to tower over her all he wanted, but she was not going to let him hold any power over her. "And we had it. The tracker placed her _in the paddock_. She would've moved, eventually. We could've waited."

"No. We couldn't," Owen disagreed. "Until we saw her, we had no idea if she was not moving because she was hiding or if she was injured. We didn't know _what_ was going on."

"And what did we learn that was worth an injured veterinarian? What was worth _that_?" Claire demanded. "I take the safety of my employees very seriously, _Mr. Grady_. I don't make decisions lightly."

"Well, _Ms. Dearing_, we learned a lot," Owen replied, although the force behind his tone was dropping, and he settled back on his heels. "Did _your people_ know that she could camouflage? Did they? Because if they had, _that_ information would've made all the difference. The only reason that Molly got injured was because _we couldn't see her_. We were looking for a white dinosaur."

Claire deflated too, her anger having run its course. The camouflaging was something they hadn't known. "No, but–"

"But nothing," Owen shook his head forcefully. "I'm not happy Molly got hurt. I'm _pissed_ she's hurt. But that information? I don't know how else you were ever going to discover it. That dinosaur… she's intelligent. _Very_ intelligent. And I want to know _what the fuck_ they made her from."

"Her base genome–" Claire started tiredly.

"Screw her base genome. T. rex's can't camouflage. T. rex's can't hide from thermal detection. It's everything _else_ that matters."

"Claire." A new voice entered the mix.

Claire turned, grateful for the interruption, as Masrani entered her office.

"Oh, Mr. Grady, I didn't know you were here," Masrani looked surprised at Owen's presence and Claire was glad that she hadn't been yelling. That her boss hadn't walked in on her and Owen in the midst of a screaming match. Masrani turned back to Claire. "Claire, I was just coming by because I heard there was an incident with the Indominus."

"Yes," Claire nodded, refusing to look in Owen's direction as she responded. "Mr. Grady and a few others decided to _disregard my order_ that no one was to enter the paddock. Molly Holt, a veterinarian, was injured in the resulting… encounter. She's been flown over to San Jose for treatment."

"I see," Masrani nodded, looking thoughtful.

"I need to know what that dinosaur is made of," Owen stated, before Claire could continue. "That… thing is displaying very unusual behaviour. Behaviour that I've never heard of or seen in a dinosaur."

"Oh?" Masrani looked delighted at the comment, even though it was making Claire's stomach churn. "What kind of behaviour?"

"Her ability to hide from thermal detection and to camouflage, to start. Her ability to do strategic thinking is surprising. All of this is going to make it very difficult to secure that paddock," Owen informed him. "And I still haven't had a good look at her agility and movement. I've started a list of fixes that will need to be made if you want to be able to ever consider opening it to guests."

"Excellent," Masrani clapped his hands. "We will get right on that list, won't we, Claire?"

Claire had to restrain the eye roll that wanted to escape and she nodded her agreement. "Of course, Mr. Masrani. Right away."

"However," Owen continued, "that list is only the start. Like I said, we need to know what she's made of. We need additional observations as to her behaviour."

"Well, you're definitely welcome to make additional observations. In fact, I'd like to request that you do," Masrani said. "But I will have to see about releasing information on her genetic makeup. It's proprietary for a reason. She's going to be the crown jewel of this place. I just know it."

"I can spend a bit more time there," Owen agreed, "but that's not going to be enough. For her intelligence level? She needs more than just a couple of handlers. She's going to need her own behaviourist. Someone who can focus all their time on her. Her behaviour–the aggression that she displays? That's not normal. And that's not going to make for a successful exhibit."

"This was just one incident," Masrani tried to dismiss it. "You can't write her off from one incident."

"This wasn't the first," Claire interrupted, trying to remind Masrani that she had listed out these concerns earlier. That Owen wasn't the first to raise them. "I've been telling you about the reports I've received. This wasn't even the first _injury_." Claire tried to ignore the surprised look that crossed Owen's face at that news, followed almost immediately by a scowl. It's not that she had been trying to hide the information from him. She just hadn't wanted to pre-bias him before he gave his own opinion. At least, that was her justification.

"Yes, yes," Masrani flicked his hand, as if brushing her comments off. "There's always hurdles to overcome whenever we introduce a new asset. And we wanted this one to be bigger. Most of this was inevitable."

"She needs a behaviourist," Owen repeated, looking between the two, before settling his gaze on Claire. Claire didn't really know what he expected her to do. There was only so much power she had, and Mr. Masrani was able to override her decisions anyway.

"I will look into it," Claire agreed, meeting Owen's gaze head on.

After a moment, Owen nodded, before moving towards the door. He paused in the doorway to look back, sending one final comment in their direction. "This incident? It's not going to be the last. It's going to happen again. And if she's as smart as I think she is? It's only going to get worse."

o-o-o

He didn't _need_ to go back to the paddock. Not after he'd left earlier that day. But Owen found himself asking for a lift out there instead of home. In all of the chaos of the day, he kept forgetting that he'd left his motorcycle at his lot, leaving him at the mercy of others to get around the island. He was relying on Barry to be a good friend and drive him home later.

Owen was starting to think there must be a full moon or _something_ going on. How could it possibly be that it had only been a few hours ago that he'd been thrilled by the fact that the raptors had finally followed his instructions? From that high to the new trainee falling into the paddock, and then the _second_ high of the day, escaping that encounter uninjured. In hindsight, it probably had been tempting fate to enter the Indominus paddock after everything. And that experience, while leading to another adrenaline rush, had not finished with a high.

He had mainly decided to go back to the raptors paddock because he didn't want to be home alone with his thoughts. Owen didn't want to keep hearing Molly's screams or seeing all the blood. He wanted a distraction. And, after interacting with the Indominus, something was tugging him towards the raptors. Maybe it was wanting to be reminded that not _all_ the carnivorous dinosaurs on the island were just biding their time to take a chunk out of him.

He'd forgotten about Hoskins. He realized that mistake the moment he got dropped off and saw Hoskins beelining towards him, walking with his odd swagger. Owen was never sure if Hoskins' walk was something he'd adopted or if he was hiding pain and trying to cover up a limp. While curious, he'd never cared enough to actually ask.

"Well?" Hoskins asked, as soon he was within a few feet.

"Well what?" Owen replied, continuing past him, heading for the staircase to the catwalk. He could see Barry up above.

"What happened?" Hoskins hurried to keep up with him and Owen just increased his pace. When he didn't answer, Hoskins followed up. "At Paddock 11?"

"How do you know where I was?" Owen paused, momentarily confused. He'd been picked up by Claire at his bungalow. Was Hoskins keeping tabs on him? His pause gave Hoskins a chance to catch up, and the two headed up the stairs in tandem.

"Are you kidding? Someone gets injured enough at a paddock to require a medevac? It was all over the radios."

"I wasn't injured," Owen was still confused. Reaching the top of the stairs, he headed around the outside edge, Hoskins still trailing beside him.

"Your name got mentioned."

Owen looked over at him, and Hoskins just shrugged.

"Owen!"

He looked up to see that Barry had spotted him and was heading towards them.

"I'm glad you weren't hurt," Barry said, clapping him on the back, before looking at him critically. "You weren't, right?"

"I'm fine," Owen shrugged his friend's concern away. Actually, now that he thought about it, he was feeling kind of tired. A heavy exhaustion that seemed to be creeping out of nowhere. Maybe he _should_ have got dropped off at home.

"How's Molly?" Barry asked, his concern genuine.

"She'll be okay," Owen said.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"So?" Hoskins interrupted, his lack of concern for Molly apparent. "What happened?"

"A dinosaur attacked," Owen just replied dryly. What did it matter? It had nothing to do with IBRIS and what they were doing there.

"Why were _you_ there?" Hoskins persisted.

"Ms. Dearing asked me to check out the paddock and provide an assessment," Owen just said tiredly.

"Really?" Hoskins surprised tone had Owen looking over at him and rolling his eyes.

"Yes, really."

"I've heard she's a mean son of a bitch," Hoskins told them, his eyes darting about like he was sharing a secret.

"Yeah, well," Owen shrugged, not entirely sure if Hoskins was referring to Claire or the Indominus. He decided to assume, or hope, that it was the Indominus, and it's not like he could argue against that, not after it had attacked them. Besides, he had no allegiance to that dinosaur, or whatever it was. And, thinking over its actions that afternoon, he was starting to really wonder if the label "dinosaur" fit. He turned to Barry, wanting to change the subject. "How have they been this afternoon?"

"You're really not going to say anything else?" Hoskins asked, interrupting again.

"What else is there to say?" Owen replied. "It's not like the Indominus is my concern. However," he looked down into the paddock, spying Charlie half hidden at the edge of the jungle, "these raptors _are._"

"They've been mostly staying out of sight," Barry informed Owen, also looking into the paddock. "Well, Charlie and Delta have. Blue spent some time pacing around near the gate looking pissed off. And then Echo came over with the pig looking all proud and Blue pounced. She wasn't about to let Echo have that pig to herself. The other two joined in and we had to give them a bunch of rats to back off and calm down."

"Hm," Owen hummed, not entirely surprised, scanning the paddock looking for the others.

"We need to talk about this morning," Hoskins butted back in. "About what happened."

"I'll write up a report," Owen said, although not without frustration.

"I'm not concerned about the report," Hoskins waved it off, "but we need to capitalize on these results."

"We already talked about this," Owen reminded him.

"These animals can replace thousands of boots on the ground," Hoskins insisted. "Just think, how many lives would that save? War is a part of nature. Look around, Owen," Hoskins was leaning on the railing, looking into the paddock below. "Every living thing in this jungle is trying to murder the other. Mother Nature's way of testing her creations. Refining the pecking order. War is a struggle. Struggle breeds greatness."

"Do you hear yourself when you talk?" Owen asked, moving away from Hoskins.

"We're sitting on a goldmine here, and Masrani is using it to stock a petting zoo."

"He doesn't make weapons," Owen called over his shoulder, making his way back down the stairs. Coming here was a mistake.

"You think that the eighth richest man in the world is only into oil, telecom, and family fun parks? He's so diversified, he doesn't even know what he owns."

"How long has InGen been practicing this pitch?" Owen paused, turning to look at Hoskins who had followed him.

"Since the day we hired you out of the Navy. You knew the endgame."

There was some truth to that, and Owen couldn't deny it. He'd known that they weren't hiring him just for his animal behaviour knowledge. He'd never worked with dinosaurs. Hell, he'd only worked with marine animals before this. He knew that meant there was something else he had that they wanted. And the only thing that made sense, the only thing that seemed to connect the dots, was his knowledge of training animals for military use. That didn't mean he liked it. Or wanted to participate in it.

For a while now, he'd been able to push the thoughts aside. It was hard to look at baby dinosaurs playing with rubber balls and tripping over their own feet and think of them as a potential army. And even as they got bigger, as he was forced out of the cage by their own size and strength, he still didn't want to acknowledge that piece. He stayed focused on the goal of just assessing their intelligence, pretending that it had no connection to anything military. When Hoskins wasn't around, it was pretty easy to push it aside.

"They're not ready," Owen stated. "I know what you think you saw today, but that was a fluke. That was the _first _time they've ever completed that task."

"We need to test them," Hoskins prodded. "Find out what they're capable of. That's the whole goal of the research, isn't it?"

"One step at a time," Owen sighed. "I'm not even sure I can repeat today's success."

"They're smart," Hoskins nodded, like he was in on a secret. "They're working to outsmart you. They don't like these toy games. They're ready for something bigger."

"Oh?"

"A field test. Put them through a _real_ scent drill. No pig trapped in a cage they know well."

"You want to let them loose?" Owen wasn't sure if he was more surprised or more irritated with Hoskins suggestion. "Are you crazy?"

"We'll never really know their intelligence while we keep them caged," Hoskins replied, looking over his shoulder at the paddock behind him. "Don't tell me you never did field tests with your other animals."

"Never this soon," Owen said. He _had_ done field tests. And he knew there was going to be a day where they'd have to actually consider it for the raptors. There was only ever going to be so much they could learn with them in the paddock. But today wasn't that day.

"It's going to happen," Hoskins told him. "Maybe not today. But it's going to."

Owen didn't say anything, and just watched as Hoskins finally turned on his heel, strutting off. Once Hoskins was a few steps away, Owen looked around for Barry. Coming here had definitely been a bad idea.

o-o-o

Owen had gone back and forth over his idea all morning. Dealing with the Indominus wasn't _his_ responsibility, after all. He'd given them his feedback. He'd said what he wanted to say. But Owen couldn't stop thinking about what had happened. How had the dinosaur outsmarted them all?

It was affecting his work. He couldn't concentrate, and the raptors were taking advantage of his distracted state to ignore everything he asked of them, looking up at him innocently whenever he clued back in. It was making the previous day's success feel even more like a fluke. Which was just putting him more on edge. A vicious cycle.

"Maybe you need some more time off," Barry had suggested, coming to stand beside him on the catwalk, the two observing the raptors milling about below.

"I wasn't even here for most of yesterday," Owen had protested. But Barry had reminded him that it was not like his afternoon had been spent relaxing at home. He'd dealt with the Indominus.

And so, Owen had found himself agreeing with Barry that he should maybe take a bit more time. Get himself together so he could actually pay attention. Barry could easily take over the raptor training for the rest of the day.

He'd left the paddock intent on going home and hanging out in his hammock, but when he'd reached the crossroads, he'd found himself turning left instead of right, and heading towards the control building.

Which was why he was now walking into the main control room only to be stopped by a security guard.

"I need to see a badge," the guard said, moving to stand in front of him.

Owen looked over the guard's shoulder to see who was in the room. He should've known he wouldn't be able to just waltz right in. However, when the elevator had taken him down to the control room level without requiring him to swipe his ID, he'd thought he might be in the clear.

"Claire," Owen called out, spotting the redhead. She was standing with what looked like two… kids? That was unexpected. But she turned towards him when she heard her name, and he could almost see her eye roll even from the distance. His own eyes widened briefly when, with a quick scan, he realized she was dressed casually. He quickly hid his reaction, but filed away the mental image.

"Mr. Grady. What are you doing here?" Claire asked, tight-lipped as she walked over. Owen wasn't surprised that she appeared unimpressed by his arrival. It's not like he'd given her a heads up, and he was betting she wasn't fond of surprises, not with how tight a reign she liked to keep on everything.

"I was hoping to look over the security footage from yesterday," Owen stated, as he let his gaze roam the room. He'd never been down there before and was taking it all in.

"It's fine," Claire told the guard, who stepped back, and Owen followed after her, when she immediately moved away, heading back to where she had been.

"So, can I see it?" Owen asked.

"Just give me a moment," Claire told him, coming to a stop by the two kids. Owen watched, interested, as she turned towards them. "Zach, Gray, I've got to help Mr. Grady here with something. It'll just take a few minutes, and then I'm all yours for the rest of the day. I thought we could maybe go by the labs next."

"Sure, Aunt Claire," the younger one nodded, while the older just looked bored. _Aunt_ Claire. That was… surprising. Owen didn't even know that she had a sibling.

"Did something happen with the raptors?"

Owen turned from the kids to see a guy he recognized, Lowery, sitting at the screens beside them. They'd run into each other at Dave and Busters before. Lowery had turned towards them and was looking at Owen curiously, having never seen him in the control room before.

"No," Owen shook his head. "I'm hoping to view the footage–"

"Raptors? I didn't know there were raptors here," the younger kid latched onto the word, his gaze darting between his aunt and Owen. "I only read about the T. rex, Apatosaurus, Triceratops, Gallimimus, Compy's, Ankylosaur–"

"Oh shut up," the older one nudged him, interrupting the spiel, and almost causing his brother to fall. Owen watched, a bit surprised when Claire didn't do anything, and he realized she looked completely out of her element.

"Hey," the younger brother cried out.

"Zach," Claire finally said, turning to the older one. "Leave Gray alone." She then tossed a glare at Lowery before turning to Gray. "The raptors are not public information. They're a research project."

"A secret?" For the first time, Zach looked interested in the conversation.

Owen hid his grin as he watched Claire cringe. He was feeling for her, a bit. The project _was_ a secret, and now her nephews knew about it.

"Confidential," Claire tried to redirect Zach away from the word secret.

"Also known as a secret," Zach replied, grinning at his aunt.

"Yeah," Claire sighed. "You're not suppose to know about it."

"Can we see them?" Gray asked, butting back into the conversation. Owen was surprised to see that Gray was directing the question at him, and not Claire.

"Uh," Owen looked over at Claire, not sure what he was supposed to say. He was pretty sure the answer was probably 'no,' which, of course, made him want to say 'yes.' When she didn't reply immediately, he decided to answer for her. "Sure."

"What?" Owen looked over to find Claire glaring at him. "Mr. Grady, can I have a minute?" Claire grabbed his arm, tugging him away from the others before he could say anything. Owen caught Lowery and Zach trying to cover their laughs as Claire dragged him away.

"The boys can't go see the raptors," Claire hissed, once they were a few feet away.

"Why not?"

"Aren't you the one always telling everyone they're not an attraction?"

Owen winced, because she had a point. He'd had that argument with Hoskins and others numerous times. "If you didn't want them to go, why didn't you say anything?"

"Because–" Claire huffed, looking back over at the others for a moment before bringing her gaze back to him. Owen watched as her shoulders sagged, and he was surprised by the honesty of her next words. "Because I didn't want to have to be the _un_cool aunt. I wanted _you_ to say no for me."

"Oh." He was feeling a little ashamed by his response now, because he'd _known_ he was supposed to say no. Not for _that_ reason, but because, after all, the raptors were not an attraction and the project _was _confidential.

"You're not even going to apologize?" Claire looked a little put out by his response, or lack of a response.

"Nope," Owen shrugged, going all in. "If you want to be the _cool_ aunt, bring them by. It's not like they're going to forget the raptors exist."

"You want kids to come out to your paddock?" Claire was looking at him skeptically now, as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Want?" Owen looked over at the kids, taking in Gray's eager expression. "I can't promise the raptors will follow orders and do what I ask. But," he shrugged again. "It's been a weird couple of days. Maybe a change to their routine would be good."

"Oh-kay," Claire drew the word out slowly. She straightened her shoulders, turning back to her nephews and putting on a smile. As they headed back towards the boys, Owen barely caught her mumbled words, "Karen is going to _kill_ me."

o-o-o

Claire was anxiously drumming her fingers against the steering wheel as she drove the boys out to the raptor paddock a couple of hours later. They had wanted to go right away, but it was almost lunch time, and Owen had gone to the control room with a specific task in mind. Claire didn't think it was appropriate for Zach and Gray to see the footage, and she knew that Owen and Lowery understood what she was getting at, when she had talked her way around _what_ footage, without ever naming the Indominus or what had actually happened. Lowery had agreed to help Owen, and Claire had insisted to Zach and Gray that they should go eat lunch first.

Owen had helped her convince the boys by telling them the paddock wasn't near any of the main Jurassic World attractions and so if they didn't eat now, it'd be a while before they could. After they had reluctantly nodded, he'd agreed with Claire to meet them out there at 1:30.

Which was why Claire was now listening as Gray chatted on and on about everything he knew about raptors, which, considering he'd been doing so for over twenty minutes now, turned out to be a lot. Over lunch, she'd attempted to stress just how important it was that they understood that what they were about to see was confidential. That they couldn't tell anyone. And _no pictures_. She'd wanted to tell them they couldn't even tell their parents, but she knew that wouldn't go over well. Well, Zach would probably go for it. From what she'd been able to figure out from her morning with the two (and she hadn't figured out much), he was well within the midst of his "I hate my parents" teenage rebellion phase. But Gray was definitely too honest of a kid to hide the visit from his parents. Which did mean that she was going to have to make sure she talked to Karen first. Not something she was looking forward to.

At least they seemed excited about the raptors.

The morning hadn't gone well. It wasn't that it had gone _badly_, it was just that nothing she had thought to do with them seemed interesting or cool enough. The visit to the control room had flopped until Owen showed up and the raptors got mentioned. So much for behind the scenes access being "cool." Instead, she had been getting the distinct feeling that, even though her sister wanted her to be spending time with them, Zach and Gray would've been happier exploring the park on their own.

As it was, she was kind of hoping that the raptor visit was going to give her cover to do some work. That she could just pawn the boys off on Owen for a while and check her email. It was making her antsy to not know what was going on. When she'd been in the control room, her eyes had kept straying to the large screen, trying to absorb all the information and pick up on any problems that might have been happening. She'd had questions she wanted to ask Lowery and Vivian but had been forced to hold back. Claire was sure she was supposed to feel a bit ashamed about her behaviour. Like it was supposed to be one of those eye-opening moments where you realize how you need to change. But she didn't. She already knew she was a workaholic and she didn't care.

Entering the raptor paddock area, Claire pulled her car off to the side and killed the engine. Before she could even get a word out, Zach and Gray were tumbling out of the car, and she quickly followed after them.

"Zach, Gray," Claire called them back. "Hold up. This place is not meant for visitors. You can't just go wandering off. Let's find Mr. Grady and see if he's ready."

Obediently, the two boys followed after her as she headed towards the paddock. She could see a few people up on the catwalk, but she couldn't see Owen anywhere. She was just about to stop someone to ask, when she heard the sound of a motorcycle, and the three turned, watching Owen as he parked the motorcycle near Claire's car, before gracefully hoping off and heading in their direction.

"Claire, Zach, Gray," Owen greeted them as he came to a stop, hands resting casually on his hips.

"Mr. Grady," Claire nodded back.

"Owen," he reminded her.

She knew that. In fact, she found herself calling him that in her head, but she couldn't bring herself to call him that to his face. It was too… familiar. Like they were friends. Or a reminder of their horrible, terrible, no good, very bad date. It was easier to push that aside if she thought of him as Mr. Grady and focused on their professional relationship.

"Can we see them now?" Gray interrupted, his eagerness coming through in his inability to stand still, craning his neck as he looked around them and all over.

"Let me grab some food for them first," Owen laughed at the boys eagerness. "And then we'll head up. Wait here." Owen quickly hurried over to the small building off to the side, calling over his shoulder. "Two minutes."

Claire stood with her nephews, trying to resist the urge to pull out her phone. She knew they were getting some odd looks. Or, more accurately, that _she_ was getting some odd looks. It wasn't common for her to be out visiting the paddock. But, she knew it was more about the fact that she was there with the boys. This was going to start another round of rumours.

Less than two minutes later, Owen was on his way back, waving for them to follow him. He was carrying a metal bucket, that, when Claire got close, she realized was full of dead rats. For once her iron stomach threatened to fail her, she could feel her face going green.

"Are those rats?" Zach asked, peering into the bucket.

"Yup," Owen held the bucket out so they could all get a better look. Claire couldn't help the involuntary step back she took, not wanting to get closer to the dead creatures. She knew Owen noticed, because he immediately looked in her direction, a bit of a smirk crossing his face.

"Cool," Zach seemed impressed.

"That doesn't look like much food," Gray said, looking from the bucket to Owen. "I thought raptors were big. Don't they need more than that?"

"They do," Owen agreed. "These are just treats. We use them as rewards for training exercises. They get a bigger meal at the end of the day."

"Can we feed them?" Zach asked, as they approached the metal staircase that led up to the catwalk.

"Raptors are pack animals. Everything they do and how they respond has to do with the pack hierarchy. Only myself and Barry," Owen pointed up the catwalk, where Claire saw Barry looking down at them, "are allowed to feed them. We need to maintain our positions of dominance."

"Oh," Zach looked a little disappointed, but Gray was hanging onto every word. Claire could see he'd already developed a clear case of hero worship.

"Okay, ground rules," Owen said, stopping at the bottom of the stairs. "At the top of the stairs is a catwalk system. It runs around the outer edge of the paddock and also crosses over the center in an 'x.' You are to stay on the outer edges. No hanging over the railings. No _leaning_ on the railings. No jumping. No running. No screaming." Owen paused, looking carefully at them, and Claire nodded her agreement, watching the boys do the same. "The raptors are smart. _Really_ smart. Sometimes they feel like playing along, sometimes they don't. It's been a busy couple of days out here, so I'm just going to use the treats to help lure them out. They often like to hide in the jungle, out of sight."

"No tricks?" Claire goaded, raising an eyebrow when he looked over at her.

"They don't do 'tricks,'" Owen looked offended. "They're not circus monkeys."

"What are you training them to do?" Gray asked. "Are they as smart as dolphins? How fast can they run?"

Owen laughed, before motioning them towards the stairs. "Let's see. I'd say smarter than dolphins. They can run at least 40 miles per hour..."

Claire tuned out the rest of the conversation, following sedately behind the others up the steps. Looking down at the grated stairs and catwalk, she was glad she'd chosen a simple pair of Converse instead of her normal heels. She'd been trying to go for a more "touristy" look, with her jeans and t-shirt. But it was just making her feel more out of place. So much for trying to fit in. She'd found herself feeling self-conscious in the control room, and knew it was only her glare that had stopped a comment from Lowery, having seen how his eyes had widened in surprise when he'd caught a glimpse of her outfit. She couldn't wait for the day to be over.

At the top of the stairs, she hung back at the edge of the catwalk, surreptitiously pulling out her phone as Owen engaged with the boys, the three looking down into the paddock, watching for the raptors. She barely heard Owen describing the four raptors, or paid any attention to the chatter when he tossed the rats in. Dinosaurs were dinosaurs. They came in different shapes and sizes, just like people.

Eventually, Owen led the way back down the stairs, saying they were going to put the raptors in their harnesses for a quick check up, and they'd be able to get a better look at them. She slid the phone back into her pocket, and was startled when Owen sidled up next to her, saying in a low voice, "You know, if you want to be the 'cool' aunt, it would help if you actually participated."

"I think that ship has sailed," Claire sighed. "They're happier just hanging out with you."

"That's not true," Owen said, resting a hand on her arm, stopping her. "If you had been paying attention, you would've seen the number of times they looked over at you. If you want to get to know them, you actually have to interact with them."

"How did you–" Claire cut herself off, annoyed that he seemed to already understand her relationship with her nephews better than she did.

"It's all about mutual respect, remember?" Owen said, before backing away quickly as Claire glared at him.

She did try to do what he said, keeping her phone in her pocket as she stood with her nephews on the outside of the cage, looking in at the raptors in their harnesses. She listened as Gray asked question after question and Owen patiently answered them all. She shared a groan with Zach over some of Owen's less than funny quips. After a while, she cut off Gray's question, insisting that they'd taken up enough of Mr. Grady's time, and that they should head back to main Jurassic World area, so that he could get back to work.

They left Owen with the raptors and headed back towards her car. Claire was shocked when Zach turned to her and said, "Your boyfriend is a badass."

She didn't know what to say. And before she could come up with anything, Gray was already going off about everything he'd learned and all the new questions he had. As she climbed into her car, she looked back towards the paddock and saw Owen looking over at her. He gave her a wave, and she responded quickly in kind, before shutting the door.

* * *

_Well, Owen was lucky and survived his first encounter with the Indominus. Poor Molly though. Never a good idea to enter Paddock 11. :) And Claire got to spend some time with her nephews, although she didn't get the benefit of a dinosaur chase to bond them._


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

"Eyes on me," Owen demanded, looking down at his raptors who were starting to lose focus. "Charlie!" He waited until the unruly raptor finally looked his way, as he held his right hand up high, clicker held tightly in his left. He silently counted to three before pressing the clicker once and lowering his hands. "And go."

The raptors immediately took off for the tree cover, slipping out of sight, the only telltale sign of their departure being the few rustling branches left in their wake. Owen knew, however, that evidence would disappear soon with the raptors able to stay silent and still for long periods of time, especially when hunting as they lured in their prey. Or, in this case, when they just didn't want to be seen or commanded.

Today's training session wasn't followed by cheers and praise. The raptors had been continuing their streak of half following his instructions. Owen had been ready to tear his hair out over it all, feeling like they had been going backwards when it had clicked just how smart the raptors _really_ were. Sure, they weren't following his instructions. _But_, it was because they didn't _want_ to, not because they didn't understand him. It had hit him that the raptors were choosing to follow a different set of instructions every day. Commands that worked the day before would no longer work, and ones that hadn't worked suddenly would. They were _messing with him_. He wasn't sure if he should be proud or pissed.

Mostly, he was just aggravated. It was just one more thing in what felt like a long line of things in his life that just weren't working out. He'd been hoping the new year was going to mean that things would finally turn around. Put the old year and everything that had happened behind him and all that. Of course, it wasn't working out that way. It was a couple of weeks into January and it was looking to be the _exact same_ as the previous year. Something was going to have to give.

Grabbing the now empty rat bucket, Owen headed for the stairs, exchanging nods with a few of the other workers, but not stopping to talk. He was, again, behind on his reports and he'd seen Hoskins arriving when he'd been training. He knew that meant his afternoon was going to be spent cooped up in his small office, trying to catch up. And then having to listen to Hoskins bitch and moan over the fact that things weren't more positive. There was only so much spin he could do and, most days, he wasn't willing to do any.

He handed the bucket over to one of the paddock technicians at the bottom of the stairs, before heading towards the small building that contained his office. It had been just over two weeks since his interaction with the Indominus, but he couldn't keep that off his mind either. He'd heard that Molly was healing, and would be back on the island soon, but he still felt guilty for being the one who suggested they go in. Molly hadn't put the blame on him, like she could've. She had said it was a joint decision between the two. But he knew the truth – that Molly never would've gone in if he hadn't suggested it.

Opening the door to the building, he was surprised that he could hear Hoskin's voice coming from within. It took him another moment, as he walked down the short hallway, to realize that Hoskins must be on the phone, as he couldn't hear anyone else. He paused in the doorway to his office, Hoskin's conversation piquing his interest.

"_I heard they hired a behaviourist for paddock 11._"

While Owen had gone by the paddock a couple more times, he hadn't been able to get much of a view of the dinosaur. Without more information, he hadn't been able to provide much more assistance, and he'd said so in a quick email to Masrani and Claire. He'd received a short reply saying they were looking at hiring a behaviourist, but he hadn't realized they'd already been successful. Probably the only time bureaucracy moved fast was in response to workplace injuries. At least something good was coming out of all of it.

He continued to hover in his doorway, shamelessly eavesdropping on the conversation. Not that Hoskins was talking all that quietly. And the building housed the shared lounge for all the raptor paddock employees, so there wasn't any guarantee of privacy.

"_Have you had a chance to present our alternative?_"

Alternative? Alternative to _what_?

"_I know that they're still focusing on the Indominus. But… No… It _is _the right time… It's the best time, really. We need them to know that there's something else._"

Owen walked a few steps closer to the lounge, where he could more clearly hear Hoskins.

"_Our replacement idea is a good one. It's a _great _one. The Indominus is never going to meet their demands…_"

What was Hoskins up to now? A replacement for the Indominus? While Owen had his doubts as to whether they were going to ever be able to show off the Indominus to guests, it was what they wanted. Bigger. Louder. More teeth. Did Hoskins have something even _bigger_ in mind? He wouldn't put it past the man.

"_If you don't want to be the one to tell them _I _will. _… _Oh, so now you're going to find your backbone? … Yeah, yeah. Sooner is better, don't forget that._"

Owen scrambled backwards the few steps to his office, ducking inside as he realized that he could hear Hoskins moving towards him, grumbling under his breath. Owen had barely managed to sit down at his desk and and pull his keyboard towards him when he felt Hoskins' presence. He looked up to see him standing in the doorway.

"Grady," Hoskins said, swaggering into the room and plopping down into the chair facing him. "Just the man I wanted to see."

"What do you want?" Owen asked, logging onto his computer so he could look busy.

"Your reports."

"I'm working on them," Owen gestured to the computer in front of him.

"You're late."

"Yeah, well," Owen shrugged, not caring. "There really hasn't been much to say."

"Your contract states–"

"I can either be working on these or training the raptors. You pick."

"Your job is to do both. If you have to stay late, then stay late. Get them done," Hoskins stood as he spoke, pointing a finger at Owen.

"Yeah, yeah," Owen dismissed him.

"I mean it," Hoskins said, stopping in the doorway to look back. "You're not irreplaceable, you know."

"Whatever," Owen replied, although he said it softly enough that Hoskins didn't appear to hear him. Not that Owen cared. He knew he wasn't as replaceable as Hoskins thought. And, that as much as Hoskin's viewed himself as in control of IBRIS, it would take more than just him wanting to fire Owen to actually do so.

After he heard the outside door to the building slam shut, Owen leaned back in his chair. He was even less enthused to work on his reports now. And, to be honest, he was too busy thinking over the conversation he'd just heard.

Sitting up, Owen pulled his laptop closer, wondering if he could figure out what was going on. It only took him ten minutes to realize that he had no idea where to even look to find out information on this. And if it was a secret, then it was even less likely he was going to find it in one of the company wide emails that he'd been sent and had chosen to ignore.

Drumming his fingers on the desk, he debated what to do. It wasn't really his business, after all. And he only overheard part of the conversation, and only one side. It might mean nothing. Actually, it _probably_ meant nothing.

Except it was Hoskins. And Owen didn't trust Hoskins farther than he could throw the guy. And Hoskins mixed up in some sort of run around on hybrid dinosaurs? Yeah, that felt likely. He knew Hoskins was getting frustrated at the lack of progress towards militarizing the raptors, it would be just like him to try to create a back-up plan.

Picking up his phone, he scrolled through his contacts. Who did he know who might have an idea what was going on? Or would have the ability to find out? He scrolled past her name twice, refusing to consider it, until he had to admit that the rest of his list came up empty.

Dammit. Why'd it have to be Claire?

Hovering over the button to call her, he found himself hesitant to dial. He wasn't even sure she'd pick up. This was business, not personal, but she might not assume that. Even after the visit with her nephews, which he was still surprised had happened, he hadn't heard anything else from her. And when he'd seen her a week ago, just in passing, she'd ignored him, not even a glance in his direction. He couldn't figure her out.

Scrolling back through his contacts, he settled on another name near the bottom. At least she wouldn't be able to shut him down this way.

o-o-o

"Your 3:45 is here."

Claire looked up in surprise to see Zara standing in her doorway. She didn't remember having a 3:45 meeting. In fact, she was pretty sure when she'd looked at her calendar earlier she had specifically noted that she had a solid hour break to get work done from three to four.

"Who?" Claire asked, knowing it would be useless to even suggest Zara was making up the appointment. Afterall, Zara was in charge of her calendar and had a better grasp of where Claire needed to be and when than Claire did.

"Claire."

The sound of her name caused her to look over Zara's shoulder where, to her surprise, Owen had stepped into view. Her meeting was with _him_?

"Mr. Grady," Claire nodded, watching as Zara stepped aside and Owen entered the office. She shot a look at her assistant, but couldn't give her the full force of the glare she wanted, considering Owen was standing in between the two. Zara just shrugged and shut the door behind Owen.

"Owen," he corrected her, moving towards her and taking one of the chairs opposite her desk.

"What are you here for?" Claire asked, ignoring the correction. She was confused when his gaze darted about the room, confirming the door was closed, before he leaned forward in his seat, his words coming out just above a whisper.

"Have you… heard of anything… new… being created?"

"New? We're always in the process of developing new assets."

"Yeah but…" Owen looked even more on edge and Claire wondered what she was missing, what dots he was expecting her to connect that she just wasn't seeing. "Not just any regular… _dinosaur_, Claire, I'm talking about…" he trailed off, gesturing vaguely with his hands. Claire was still struggling to follow what he was asking. Finally he huffed, leaning even farther forward, his voice dropping into a whisper, "_The_ _Indominus_."

"What about the Indominus?" Claire asked, her voice remaining at a normal volume. Owen's gaze immediately darted around the room again, and Claire gave a heavy sigh. "Seriously, Mr. Grady. Just tell me what's going on?"

"Owen," he replied, and from his immediate wince Claire figured he hadn't meant to correct her that time, it was just becoming a habit.

"Owen," Claire repeated, rolling her eyes. "What about the Indominus?"

"Not the Indominus… well, not exactly," Owen paused, looking as if he was mentally debating whether to tell her.

"You set up this meeting," Claire reminded him. "Just tell me so I can get back to my work."

"Hoskins was talking about… well, I think a replacement?"

"A replacement? For what?"

"The Indominus."

"We're not replacing the Indominus," Claire disagreed. "Trust me, I would _know_ if we were doing that. We've hired a behaviourist and are still working towards our opening date."

"Not immediately," Owen agreed. "It sounded more like… something that was in the works. A new… design?"

"And Hoskins just told you this?" While Claire had had previous interactions with Hoskins, he had nothing to do with the Indominus project. She wasn't sure why he would know or be involved with anything now.

"Well… I overheard a conversation–"

"Wait, you're coming to me based on _rumours_?"

"Not rumours, I heard it myself," Owen defended himself.

"You heard half a conversation and you're making some pretty big leaps here," Claire said skeptically.

"I _know_," Owen replied, frustrated. "I just… I tried to confirm it on my own, and, well, I don't have the access that you do. Or have any idea where to look, really. It wasn't my plan to come ask _you_."

"So why did you?" Claire was pretty sure there was nothing behind what he was telling her. She was sure she would've heard if there was, but it was the fact that Owen came to _her_, that was intriguing her most of all.

"Because–" Owen sputtered, looking annoyed. He looked away from her for a second, staring out the window behind her before he met her gaze and stated: "You brought your nephews out to see the raptors."

"Huh?" Claire was confused by the segue. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"I… Why did you do that?" Owen asked.

"You invited them," Claire reminded him.

"No, I didn't, they asked," Owen replied. "Either way, you didn't have to bring them."

"Did you… _not_ want me to?" Claire was unsure where this conversation was going. She thought he'd seemed happy to have them out there. Had she read it all wrong?

"No, I mean, it was fine that you did," Owen groaned, a hand coming up to rub at his jaw as he looked away from her again. "Nevermind, it doesn't matter."

"Why are you here?"

"I just… I keep thinking about the Indominus. And I know Hoskins' not happy with the pace of the raptor research. You're the only one I know who might be able to figure out if something else is going on," Owen said with a sigh. "Maybe it's nothing–" he held up a hand to stop Claire from interrupting, "Fine, it's _probably_ nothing. But… what if it isn't?"

o-o-o

It was just over a week later and Claire couldn't stop thinking about the visit from Owen. As much as she hated to admit it, he had got into her head. Could there be something going on? Something that she didn't know about?

Her instinct was no, that she'd be involved. It was her job, after all, to know what assets were coming down the pipeline so she could be prepared. Introducing a new asset took a lot of work. The marketing campaign to announce it was, in her opinion, the easiest part. They gave them some pictures of it, described it, and the basics like height, weight, diet, etc and off the marketing team went. But before they could even get to that stage, the dinosaur had to be created and it had to be born and, more importantly survive (and the survival rates were still quite low). And then, it needed a paddock or somewhere to live and it needed a steady food supply. Often there were siblings or other dinosaurs involved, because, as much as Claire hated to admit it, Owen was right about the importance of socialization. Almost all of the dinosaur species on Jurassic World thrived when they were kept in a pack- or family-like environment. The T. rex and Mosasaurus were the main exceptions.

So she was sure that there wouldn't be another dinosaur in the works, not without her knowing. All of those steps, everything that needed to be checked off, she was part of that process. Not only that, but they didn't announce new species close together, preferring to wait at least a year or more between introductions. They wanted to get as much out of each attendance bump as they could. And if new assets and attractions were released too close together, people just waited for the second, so they could see both in one go. Not that Claire blamed them for doing so, she'd do the same if she was in their shoes, but marketing and business was often about getting people to make choices that may actually be against their best interests, while making them believe that they _wanted_ to do so.

The afternoon Owen had visited her, after he'd left, she'd done a cursory search through her email, wanting to double check she hadn't missed anything, and she hadn't. Over the next couple of days, she'd casually brought up the concept (in a roundabout way of course, never directly) with Zara and also with Lowery and Vivian, but none of them implied they'd heard anything. And both Lowery and Zara usually had a solid in with whatever gossip was circling.

She'd been ready to just push it aside and put it behind her. She was right, he was wrong. And that feeling had been oh so satisfying.

But then she'd had a scheduled visit at the lab a couple of days ago. Just a normal one, nothing special, where she would get an update as to how the various projects were progressing and anything new they'd found. They were always searching for DNA from new dinosaur species and trying to improve the DNA they had already created.

It wasn't any one thing, exactly, that raised the red flags in her mind. It was more just a general feeling she got. Something seemed off. People were quieter than normal. And there were was more security than she was used to. She couldn't recall any recent incidents that would've led to that.

As she'd been getting an update from Wu, she noticed that there appeared to be an area of the lab that he was deliberately avoiding. When, as they had been finishing up, she'd wandered in that direction, as if she was just taking a look around, he'd actually intercepted her and gently redirected her to a different area. If she hadn't already been curious, she probably wouldn't have even noticed he'd done it, it was that subtle. Claire hadn't been able to figure out what was going on, or get to that area. Not without raising suspicions.

Could Owen be right?

o-o-o

In the end, Claire sent Owen a text message.

She had debated email or phoning, but knew from previous conversations, that text messages were the most likely way to actually reach him. He had told her, back when they were sorting out the when and where for their date, that he rarely had his phone on him, and even more rarely checked emails. But that he'd get around to checking his text messages, even if it took him some time to respond. She'd managed to bite back her frustration over it all (he did realize that _he_ had asked _her_ out, right? Didn't he think being reachable was part of the agreement?) and had said that sure, text was fine. Her phone, unlike his, was practically glued to her hand, or at least within arms length. She was not ashamed to admit it was the last thing she looked at before going to bed, and the first thing she reached for upon waking.

Being reachable was a requirement of her job. She just wished it was a requirement of most people she ever had to reach out to. It took Owen almost 24 hours to reply to her; 24 hours where she had gotten increasingly frustrated and annoyed by the whole process. _He_ was the one who had asked the question, not her. If he'd wanted her to do something, he should at least be willing to respond in a timely manner.

When he'd finally responded, Claire replied immediately, wanting to catch him before he put his phone down again or lost it or whatever he had done with it previously. A few back and forth messages and they'd agreed to meet up at the Starbucks on Main Street the following afternoon. After their previous meeting, Zara had pestered her about what Owen had wanted. She had cooked up a story around the raptors, but wasn't convinced that Zara bought it. Claire didn't want him to come by her office again, since it was out of the ordinary for him to do so and it would just bring more questions. And as Owen hadn't wanted to raise suspicions in the first place, he'd agreed.

So now, Claire was sitting with her grande triple mocha frappuccino wondering where the hell he was. Okay, so he still had 5 minutes to arrive to be on time, but she had been 10 minutes early. Couldn't he be at least a couple? She only had so much time before she had to get back to her office, and she wasn't good at patiently waiting. Not in her job, where there was always more to be done than time to do it in.

"Hey."

Claire looked up from her phone where she'd been responding to emails as Owen dropped into the seat across from her, placing a cup of what looked like black coffee on the table between them. She saw a smirk cross his lips quickly as his eyes took in her drink, but he at least managed to refrain from commenting.

"Mr–Owen," Claire corrected herself, and watched as a genuine smile appeared on his face.

"Claire," Owen greeted her back, before getting to the point. "What's up? What did you not want to text about?"

"I looked into what you said," Claire admitted, watching as his eyes widened in surprise. What did he _think_ she was asking him to Starbucks to talk about?

"Oh? Did you find something?"

"Yes, well… not really," Claire played with the straw in her drink, not meeting his eyes.

"Not really… what does that mean?"

She watched as he took a sip of his coffee, continuing to stir her own as a distraction.

"C'mon, Claire, you didn't ask me to meet up for no reason, did you?" Owen's grin turned sly. "Or, did you just want to see me again? I'm not going to let you trick me into a second date."

"Ugh," Claire tossed her balled up straw wrapper at him, watching as he laughed. "Let me remind you that _I'm_ the one who doesn't want a second date. But… no, that's not why you're here. I couldn't find anything. Or, nothing specific. But then I was down in the lab the other day and, well, the security presence has increased. And that normally only happens when they're working on a new secret project, like before the Indominus was born." She took a sip of her drink, waiting to see his reaction.

Owen leaned back, sipping at his own coffee as he thought over her remarks. "It could be something else, right? Like a personnel incident or something?"

"It could be," Claire agreed. "But I haven't heard of anything, and I would've known about it. And, well, that's not all. When I was there, I noticed that there was a corner of the lab that Wu appeared to be avoiding. I tried to wander over there myself, and he directed me to a different area."

"Hm."

"Yeah," Claire nodded. "I mean, I know it's not proof-proof, but…"

"So, why are you telling me? Why aren't you asking Wu? Or Masrani?" Owen leaned forward, resting his forearms on the table. "What's going on?"

Claire grimaced. She knew he was going to ask this, but she still didn't want to answer. "If something's going on, if they're creating something new, I _should_ be part of the process. I'm _always_ part of the process." She looked down at her drink, trailing a finger through the condensation on the side, before looking up to meet his gaze, hating the vulnerability that was creeping into her tone. "Why would they be leaving me out?"

o-o-o

"How'd you talk her into a second date?"

Owen looked over at Barry, who was crouched beside Delta, checking over the raptor who was restrained in her harness.

"What are you talking about?" Owen said, focusing on Charlie, the raptor huffing and fighting her own restraint. He laid one hand on her neck, the other softly stroking between her eyes, trying to help her relax.

"People are talking, they saw you and Claire at Starbucks the other day," Barry shrugged. "Personally, I'm surprised she agreed after the disaster of your first date."

"He probably got down on his knees and begged, right Owen?" Barry and Owen both turned at the sound of the third voice, looking outside the caged area to where one of the ACU men currently assigned to the paddock was leaning on the rail watching them. For someone who was supposedly on guard in case something happened, Owen thought he looked way too relaxed. They'd be dead before he'd even have time to reach for his gun.

Owen just rolled his eyes in response. He didn't mind male bonding and some of the "locker room" style talk that happened around the paddock. He participated in it a fair amount himself. But, he also knew if he protested, it would be turned around in a "I think he protests too much" way. Better to just ignore it all.

"What are you guys talking about?"

As another ACU member wandered over, Owen turned back to Charlie who had been calming down, but was now getting agitated again. He tried to focus on her, checking her over as quickly as possible, while ignoring the others. It was hard.

"Owen's dating Claire."

"Claire who?"

"Dearing. You know her – the Operations Manager. The one who sends out all those annoying emails."

"_Her?!_" The response came out shocked, twinged with disbelief. "Why her? I mean… isn't she the one there was all those rumours about a few months back, the one who brought an itinerary on a date?"

"Did she do that with _you_?"

Owen felt his back stiffening at the remark. He risked a glance to the side over to Barry, who just looked at him with a eyebrow raised.

"Really? You're believing rumours now?" Owen finally said, turning to look at the two guys watching him.

"I don't know why you'd want to date _her_," the second guy commented. "Although, I'll give you that she's hot."

"Very hot," the first ACU member nodded. "And have you seen her assistant? British accent _and_ a brunette?"

"I think she's engaged."

Owen just shook his head, only half listening to them, as they started comparing Claire and Zara, among others. It always amazed him how quickly people could and would blow up a less than 10 minute conversation at Starbucks into evidence of something bigger. At least they were no longer focused on him, he thought, as he turned back to finish up with Charlie.

o-o-o

She happened to be in the control room when the call came in. Emergency at Paddock 11. She found it hard to make out what they were saying through the speakers, but just watching Vivian's face pale told her enough. It was bad.

Claire realized as she was speeding down the dirt road that she'd been expecting something to happen for a while. Ever since the incident with the vet, and Owen's comments that it wouldn't be the last. She'd hoped that the new behaviourist was going to help. It hadn't been easy to find someone who was willing to tackle the job. Not that they could even supply much information to potential hires.

In the end, they'd gone with an internal promotion, moving Cooper Thompson from his position with the Baryonyx over to the Indominus. Claire had interviewed all the candidates carefully, trying to weed out ego and overconfidence. She wanted someone who would stand up to her, and not because they thought less of her, but because they strongly believed in what they were saying. Someone, she hated to admit it, like Owen. She'd have considered him for the job, except he was already neck deep in his raptor research, and she didn't think he'd take it anyway.

Cooper had been a tad arrogant in his interview, but his knowledge and work with the Baryonyx had elevated him up the list. While he wasn't scared of the job, he came across as someone with a healthy level of respect for the dinosaurs and what they were capable of, which was another bonus in his favour. And he'd been willing to make the switch, even knowing that the Indominus was already almost a year old, and information about the previous incidents.

Claire had given strict instructions that _no one_ was allowed to be in the paddock with the Indominus. Not while the dinosaur was awake, at least. Vet checkups were still required, unfortunately. They had moved to lacing her food with a tranquilizer, with additional tranq darts used after the Indominus initially succumbed. And the visits had a strict time limit that everyone had to obey. No one wanted a repeat of what had happened to Molly.

Of course, that didn't explain what had happened _now_. If no one had gone in… how had the Indominus been involved? And Claire was sure the Indominus was involved. Vivian wouldn't have reacted the same way if it was just a construction injury. Either someone had disobeyed her order and gone in or the Indominus had got out. There _had_ been a call for additional ACU support. Oh god…

Part of her, a _large_ part of her, wanted to turn her car around. But she forced herself to continue down the road, and shortly she was pulling into the paddock. To her surprise, it was relatively calm. She'd expected people to be running around in panic. Or maybe a giant hole in the side of the paddock wall. Or blood everywhere.

Instead, there were a few clumps of people. They seemed to be grouped by type. She could see one of the mobile veterinarian vehicles over on one side, the back doors open and a few people gathered there. There was another group of what looked like regular paddock workers, gathered in a circle, a few of them smoking and a couple looking like they'd recently been crying. There was an ambulance, but the lights weren't on, and she couldn't see the EMTs. An ACU truck on one side had a couple of men beside it, and there were a few more she saw patrolling around the area.

As she got out of her car, the head of the ACU unit headed in her direction.

"Claire," Katashi Hamada said as he met up with her.

"Hamada," Claire nodded. "What happened?"

"Cooper Thompson was in the viewing area when the Indominus appeared to get upset," Hamada stated, leading her towards the stairs. "We haven't figured out yet what set her off, but she attacked the glass."

"She's done that before," Claire reminded him. "It's why we replaced it all."

"Well, she must be getting stronger," Hamada shrugged, opening the door and gesturing her into the area.

Claire had only taken a few steps in when she came to a halt, her gaze fixed on the viewing window in front of her. Or, more accurately, at what had been the viewing window. Instead, there was now shards of glass sticking out from the sides and a large gaping hole. Not only had the Indominus managed to break through the window, but Claire could see that a chunk of the floor had been destroyed as well, bent pieces of metal rebar sticking out.

When she finally managed to tear her gaze away from the hole, she noticed the EMTs. They were sitting off to the side, a stretcher beside them covered in a cloth. She blamed it on her state of shock that she didn't get the significance at first.

"Cooper?" Claire choked out, nodding at the stretcher before looking over at Hamada who had come to a stop beside her.

"She went right for him. He didn't stand a chance," Hamada said. He started to move forward, towards the window and Claire reached to grab his arm, stopping him.

"Is it safe?" Claire asked, gesturing towards the gaping hole in front of them.

"She's sedated right now. We can't have her roaming around with this hole," he answered, and he continued to the window, Claire following. She realized, taking a quick glance around the room, that there were a couple of other ACU in there, holding guns that were aimed down into the paddock. As she neared the window, she could see the slumbering form of the dinosaur below, red blood on its snout standing out against its white skin.

"How long can we keep her sedated?" Claire asked, her voice sounding hollow to her own ears.

"I don't know," Hamada replied. "We're looking into that. We can't have her awake with this breech, but there's also no where else to put her for the time being."

"That may not be a problem," Claire said, her mind whirling. "I need to phone Masrani."

* * *

_Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to leave me a comment or kudos. I try my best to respond to each, and apologize if I don't (I lose track sometimes of what I have/haven't responded to). _

_I'd love to know what you thought of this chapter or any predictions you have about what may happen going forward. _

_I'm working on chapter 12 right now and am *almost* halfway through my plan. So... lots of story to come. :) I'm really enjoying having the raptors to play with. _


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Owen was swaying in his hammock with a beer clutched in his hand, watching as the sun slowly set over his lake when the sound of a car interrupted his evening. He had one leg dangling out of the hammock, pushing lightly against the ground to keep him moving. His gaze moved from away from the lake, surprised to see Claire's Mercedes entering his lot. He'd assumed it was Barry coming to hang out for a bit, as he was generally the only one who stopped by.

He waited until she'd parked and got out, watching her gaze dart around his lot, before he raised a hand in a quick wave and called out "Hi."

"Hey," Claire said, walking over towards him. He used the couple of seconds it took her to approach to give her a quick once-over. She was still dressed in a pristine business suit and heels, but it was the scowl on her face that mainly caught his attention. He hadn't interacted with her since they'd met up at Starbucks, so he wasn't sure what he could've done to have brought that about.

"What's wrong?" Owen asked as she stopped, her gaze focused past him, watching the sunset. Although, unlike for him, it didn't seem to be making her any calmer. When she didn't say anything, he asked again. "What brought you out here?"

"I just…" Claire started, before groaning, and then, to Owen's surprise, she started pacing beside his hammock, her hands clenched in fists. Owen held back a chuckle, watching as her heels sunk into the soft earth, making her gait almost unsteady, but it didn't seem to phase her.

Just as he was about to ask her again what's wrong, and he was also starting to worry that maybe _she'd_ heard the rumours that they were dating and was there to confront him, she finally started talking. Well, venting would be more accurate.

"I told him. I told him so many times, Owen," Claire ranted, barely sparing a look in his direction as she went by, which meant she missed his look of surprise when she called him 'Owen.' "But nooo, of course they don't listen to me. What do _I_ know? It's not like I spend my days poring over all the data. It's not like it's _me_ they come after when there are injuries. And when someone dies–" Her voice cut off, but he heard her anguish. He watched as she paused, her back to him, and she brought her hands up and covered her face, muffling a scream.

Owen had heard that something had gone down at Paddock 11 that morning. And there were rumours that someone had died. He hadn't believed it, since most rumours around Jurassic World seemed to struggle with the truth. He climbed out of the hammock, not feeling right lying there relaxed as Claire stood there looking so upset. But, before he could move towards her, she turned to face him.

"I'm the one who hired him," Claire looked at him, her eyes beseeching, although he wasn't sure what he could do. "I knew she was dangerous. Hell, _you_ said it was only a matter of time before something else happened."

"What else could you have done?" Owen asked, taking a step towards her, then pausing when she stumbled back.

"They're going to put her down," Claire told him, turning away from him again, gaze focused on the hint of the sun that was left in the sky. "They'll have to. We can't exhibit her anymore."

"That's…" Owen trailed off. He wasn't sure what to say. He didn't _like_ the idea of putting down animals. But he also wasn't surprised that things were going to end this way for the Indominus. It felt pretty inevitable.

"Yeah," Claire turned back to him again, her shoulders sagging, a sad look on her face. "I want to be mad. I feel like I should be mad over all the lost time and money and energy I put into it. But, I'm just… I don't know." She kicked at a clump of dirt.

There was a long pause and then Owen asked, hesitantly, "Want a beer?"

"What?"

"A beer," Owen raised the bottle he was still holding.

"I–" Claire looked ready to refuse before she nodded.

Owen ducked into his trailer, grabbing a fresh beer for himself and one for Claire before returning. He was surprised to find that she was now in his hammock. It was a bit of an odd sight, with her still in her business suit, although he saw that she'd kicked off her heels. If she hadn't looked so forlorn, he would've commented on it, but instead he just silently handed over the beer.

He grabbed one of his folding chairs and sat down in it, swinging his legs up and using the end of the hammock as a footrest, watching as she picked at the label, not really drinking it.

"It's all my fault."

Owen almost didn't catch it, the words coming out in a whisper.

"Of course it's not your fault," he immediately disagreed. "It's not like you created the Indominus. You didn't ask for this."

"But I didn't fight against it," Claire met his gaze. "I could've argued for something else, and I didn't. I thought it was a good idea."

o-o-o

"How come you didn't tell me you went out with him again?" Zara asked, as she and Claire waited in line at Starbucks for their afternoon pick-me-up.

"Went out with who?" Claire asked distractedly, focused on replying to the latest email from Masrani. The two weeks since the Indominus had been euthanized had flown by in a whirl of meetings as the park scrambled to contain any possible fallout. A death on the island was always going to be bad publicity, and right now, the only silver lining Claire could see, was that that they hadn't formally announced Verizon Wireless as the official sponsor, so that bridge, while slightly burned, was still mostly standing.

"Owen," Zara said, nudging her in the side.

"I'm not dating Owen," Claire replied reflexively.

"I didn't say _dating_," Zara said, before adding after a brief pause. "Although _now_ that's what I'm thinking."

Claire sighed, turning her phone off before looking over at Zara. "What are you talking about anyway?"

"There's been rumours going around," Zara admitted, taking a step forward with the line. "Considering I generally know what's going on with you, I'm sure most of them aren't true bu–"

"Most of them? How many are there?" There were _always_ rumours about her, Claire knew that. Although, it generally seemed to cycle through a few regular ones about her work and how she got the position she had.

"That you guys were see on a date at Starbucks a few weeks ago," Zara started, ticking them off on her fingers as she went. "And then, apparently, on a date over on the mainland last weekend, although, I don't believe that one. That you're car has been seen coming and going from his place. That you've been visiting him at the raptor paddock. That you and him…" Zara blushed, trailing off.

"That we what?" Claire asked, already wincing knowing she wasn't going to like it.

"Something about you and him," Zara started, mumbling a bit that Claire didn't catch, before finishing with, "in your office." Zara took in Claire's angry expression, and quickly added. "I don't believe that one either. And whenever anyone's said it, I've told them there's no way it's true."

"I'm starting to think people don't have enough work to do," Claire said, before stepping forward to place her order, Zara following quickly. Once they had moved to the side to wait for their drinks, Claire turned to Zara again. "You know it's not true, right?"

"Of course," Zara nodded. The two fell silent, waiting for their names to be called out. Once they were, and as they were exiting the Starbucks, Zara raised the topic again. "To be honest, I'm not sure when you'd find the time," she admitted. "I mean, if I wasn't living with Alec, I'm not sure when I'd see him. Especially not these past couple of weeks."

"I don't even know that I'd have time to see someone I was living with," Claire admitted. "By the time I walk through my door, I can barely keep my eyes open."

The last time she'd taken a moment to breathe was the night she _had_ been out at Owen's place. She hadn't meant to stay. Hell, she hadn't even meant to go out there in the first place. But she'd been struggling to deal with her swirling emotions around the whole tragedy, and had found herself driving out to his lot, looking for someone she could vent to, someone who might, sort of, understand. And then he'd offered her a beer, and the hammock had looked so inviting, she'd climbed in before she'd even realized what she was doing, enjoying the cocoon-like feeling as it adjusted around her. She hadn't stayed all that late. Just for the one beer. And they'd mostly just hung out in comfortable silence as the sky grew steadily darker. She'd enjoyed the quiet solitude, watching as the stars appeared, sprinkled across the night sky. It had been a while since she'd taken a moment to just stop and look up. Too long, really.

She still wasn't really sure what to think of the whole evening. Or, more specifically, how to interpret Owen's behaviour. While he'd seemed sort of surprised she'd shown up, he hadn't pushed her away. And he'd hadn't pressed, either, just offering silent comfort and camaraderie. When she'd got up to leave, he'd walked silently beside her over to her car, offering up a soft "good night" as she'd climbed in. When she'd glanced in her rear view mirror, taking one last look back at his place as she left, Claire had seen him heading back towards the hammock. While she knew they weren't dating, she thought that maybe, just maybe, they were friends now. Or almost friends. Or heading in that direction. Unexpected, but not unwelcome.

Her cell phone pinged in her pocket, and Claire pulled it out, reading the subject line of the email notification with a groan.

"What now?" Zara asked, the two taking the long route back to the control building, purposefully trying to get a few more minutes away from the hustle and bustle.

"Masrani," Claire said, shoving her phone back in her pocket without opening the email. "He's been sending me nonstop messages and emails about what are we going to do now that we no longer have the Indominus. It's a big hole in our budget. We need something to replace it."

"They're not thinking of making another, are they?" Zara questioned, sounding a bit horrified by the thought.

"No," Claire confirmed. "Not an Indominus. There's been a lot of ideas, and not all dinosaurs. The waterpark could use an upgrade and the petting zoo an expansion. All things we've been talking about, but–"

"–But not big enough for the sort of boost the Indominus was going to bring," Zara finished.

"Yeah," Claire nodded. "The loss of the sponsorship is really the big thing. The money wasn't just going to just cover the Indominus. There're lots of infrastructure needs coming up, now that we've been around for 10 years. Wear and tear takes it toll." Claire looked around, taking in what the tourists didn't seem to notice; the buildings that were starting to get a bit rundown at the edges, a couple of missing bricks on the path covered by a traffic cone, bumps in the sidewalk as roots pushed their way forward. Nature was always trying to take the island back.

"I'm sure you'll figure something out," Zara reassured.

"I'll have to," Claire agreed. "It's a bit too bad we don't have another species ready to go. A herbivore, preferably."

"Yes, please," Zara said enthusiastically. The two looked at each other, before bursting into laughter.

It was interrupted by another ping from Claire's phone. She groaned, but pulled it out. She couldn't afford to ignore it, never knowing if it was just Masrani with another idea, or an actual emergency. Looking down, she saw another email from him, but this time the subject line had her opening it up. Skimming it over quickly, she stopped in her tracks.

Zara took a step past her, before also stopping, turning back with a frown. "What is it?"

"Apparently Wu _does_ have another dinosaur up his sleeve."

"That's a good thing, isn't it?" Zara asked, brow furrowed.

"I don't think it's the cuddly herbivore we're hoping for. The only details Mr. Masrani has supplied is that it'll be 'just as impressive, but not as volatile' as the Indominus."

o-o-o

After reading Masrani's email about Wu, Claire immediately had Zara schedule her a meeting with him. She didn't want this time to turn out like last time, and she was determined to push harder. To require more answers and to not let things slide as much as she had, in hindsight, with the Indominus. Owen's words about how _T. rex's can't camouflage or hide from thermal detection_ were echoing in her mind. He was right. She could predict certain needs of the dinosaur from their base genome, but it clearly didn't supply enough information. They had used their knowledge about the T. rex to design and build Paddock 11, and it hadn't been enough to contain the Indominus. She wasn't going to risk the same thing happening this time.

"Henry," Claire greeted him as he entered her office. She'd also insisted the meeting took place on her turf, not in his lab, as a way of trying to wrestle a bit of control away from him. She knew he liked to be the one in charge and the one behind the desk, and that he saw himself as the true father of Jurassic World, considering he'd been involved from the very start at Jurassic Park. She identified with the control part, and, to a degree, feeling responsible for Jurassic World. Claire may not have brought the dinosaurs back to life, but she'd given more than her fair share in blood, sweat, and tears.

"Claire," Henry Wu said as he carefully sat down in the seat opposite her, crossing his legs and clasping his hands together to rest on one knee.

"I assume you know why I've asked for this meeting?" Claire said calmly.

"Simon's told you about the new asset," Henry replied equally calm.

"Yes," Claire stated. "He didn't have much information. Is this a hybrid? What is it made from?"

"It is another hybrid," Henry nodded, sitting back in his chair. He shifted until his elbows were resting on the armrests and the tips of his fingers were touching in front of him. "I can't tell you much, you know that, Claire. My research is classified."

"Don't pull that line on me," Claire said, pushing back from her desk. "The Indominus was a disaster. We can't go down that road again."

"We're not making another Indominus," Henry dismissed her concerns.

"What's this one based on? What are the main features you're going for? Will it be as big as the Indominus? Will there be a sibling?" Claire fired off the series of questions without pause.

"The exact genetic makeup hasn't been finalized yet. It is expected that this one will be smaller than the T. rex–probably half the size. And you know we always incubate multiple eggs. Siblings will depend on the survival rates."

"Not finalized…" Claire repeated slowly. "What's the timeline we're working with here?"

"We hope to start incubating the eggs in April, May at the latest."

"When will I get more details? I won't move forward with as few details as last time," Claire insisted. "I need more to work with. We're going to do things differently this time."

"That's not up to me," Henry reminded her. "I'm under my own NDAs, just like you. For now, my main responsibility is to finish this asset and make sure it's viable. What happens after that? That's not my concern."

"It should be," Claire said. "Keeping this place running hinges on our ability to keep everyone safe – guests, employees, dinosaurs. I can't do that when I don't know what I'm working with."

"You'll have to take that up with someone else," Henry gave a one-shoulder shrug. "There's nothing more I can tell you." He stood up, heading for the door, pausing in the doorway to look back at her. "The Indominus may not have worked out, but she wasn't a mistake. Everything we create here, every problem we encounter, just provides more data that we can use going forward. Make no mistake, we learned a lot from the Indominus."

o-o-o

Owen couldn't say he was surprised when he received another text message from Claire. He didn't see it until the end of his day, when he was getting ready to leave the paddock, as he didn't keep his phone on him. He didn't _want _to have his phone around, but even if he had, having it beep and chime around the raptors would just be another distraction he (and them) didn't need. Instead, he kept stored it on his desk during the workday.

There were two messages. The first just said **I'm worried**, and the second **Can we meet?** Considering she hadn't asked when she'd shown up at his place, he _was_ a little surprised she bothered to this time. He replied simply **Sure, do you want to come over tonight?**

She'd balked at that, saying it wasn't a good idea she went out to his place and he wondered if she'd heard the rumours going around, too. Not wanting to get into a big debate over it, especially over text, he just asked her when and where. He wasn't sure what he was expecting her to suggest, but the top of the gondola wasn't it. She said she was busy that night, but suggested a couple of time slots late the next day. It all felt very transactional, like he was booking an appointment. He felt sure he was being scheduled onto to her calendar just like a meeting. Whatever, he liked the gondola and the trails at the top and hadn't been up there lately. He'd take the excuse to get out there.

Owen got there an hour early. He was not normally one to show up early for anything, but they were meeting in the evening and he wanted a chance to enjoy the view at the top and go for a short hike, preferably not in the dark.

"I didn't think you knew how to be early."

Owen turned from his place in line to see Claire, who had come to stand beside him.

"I'm not, usually," Owen admitted. "But I thought if I was going to go all the way up, I'd get in a quick hike before we met."

"Great minds," Claire said, giving him a genuine smile. Owen took the moment to actually look her over. She was dressed similarly to how he'd seen her when her nephews were out, although with dark khakis and a t-shirt paired with hiking shoes, not Converse. He was snapped out of his thoughts when he felt her tugging on his arm. "Follow me."

He trailed after her, as she went around the outside of the line, opening up a gate towards the attendant, and giving him a wave. Owen watched silently as the attendant gave them a quick nod, and when the next gondola arrived, they were ushered in first.

The gondola had room for eight people, four on each side. The rest of the seats were quickly taken by another couple and a family. Owen was sitting on the outside, with Claire next to him and the couple beside her, with the family facing them. He leaned back, ready to enjoy the quick ten minute ride to the top. He knew Claire wouldn't bring up whatever she had to share until they got off, not with guests close enough to easily overhear.

When the gondola finally bumped off the platform, with a bit of a sway back and forth, he felt nails biting into his arm. He looked down and saw that Claire had grabbed a hold of his left arm just above his wrist.

"You okay?" Owen asked, turning to meet her gaze.

"Sorry," Claire said weakly, letting go of his arm, only to tightly clench her hands together in her lap. "These things always make me nervous."

"Heights?" Owen was curious.

"More the rocking motion and constantly feeling about to fall," Claire admitted.

"Why'd you suggest it, then?"

"The view at the top is worth it. And there's not a lot of places we can meet privately," Claire shrugged. "Besides, caving to fears just makes you weak."

"You, weak?" Owen laughed.

"Everyone has weaknesses," Claire said. "Even you, I'm sure."

"Me?" Owen pretended to be shocked. "Come on, Claire. I'm perfect, no weaknesses anywhere."

Claire gave him a long look, and Owen was happy to see that she was relaxing, distracted from the gondola. "Hmm, you know, you strike me as the type of person who might be ticklish." She raised her hand as if to reach out for him.

"You wouldn't dare," Owen said, flinching and then leaning towards the side of the gondola, as far away from her as he could.

"I would," Claire said, nodding, before dropping her hand back into her lap as she looked around them. "But, not here where you'd probably just make it rock more." She shuddered at the thought, and Owen chuckled, straightening back up in his seat.

They rode the last few minutes in mostly silence, listening to the chatter around them. As they disembarked, Owen followed behind Claire as she cut through the crowd, leading them towards the trail map. "What's your favourite?" Claire asked, turning to look at him once they were standing in front of it.

"When I have the time, I really like the Cretaceous Challenge," Owen said, pointing out the longest trail on the map. It continued from where they were up to the actual peak, before curling around the small mountain the gondola was on and descending down the backside. At the base, it cut back around, coming out near the start of the gondola. "Although, when I do that one, I usually hike up and take the gondola down." He glanced over at her, to see her nodding in agreement. "I was actually thinking of just doing the Triassic Trek tonight."

"Sounds good," Claire agreed. The Triassic Trek headed south, dipping down a bit before climbing the adjacent peak. It was an out and back trail that was about 4 miles round trip. Because of the distance and "intermediate" warning designation, it was usually pretty empty.

They headed off towards the trail in silence, neither of them saying anything for the first ten minutes or so, walking side by side along the wider part of the trail. As they started climbing up towards the next peak, Claire broke the silence.

"He's creating something new," Claire huffed.

"Who?" Owen asked, although he already knew the answer.

"Henry. And he won't tell me what it is."

"Another Indominus?"

"No," Claire replied immediately. "I got him to confirm that much. But he wouldn't even tell me the base genome this time. Said they were still finalizing it."

"That's… odd," Owen agreed. "I mean, I would think that would be the first decision they make."

"Oh, I'm sure they've made it," Claire said, her voice resigned. "He already knew it wouldn't be as big as the T. rex."

"Why aren't they telling you?" Owen was confused. He'd always viewed Claire as a bit of the all-knowing, all-powerful "Wizard of Oz" person running the park. It was disconcerting to think there were areas she was being kept in the dark.

"They never give us all the details," Claire replied after a moment. "I mean, there's a lot of genetic stuff that I don't get, and that I don't need to know. I don't expect to know where every fragment of DNA comes from. But these hybrids… They're being treated so differently. So much more secretively."

"Why even create a hybrid? There are hundreds of dinosaur species. Surely you guys have the DNA for some that aren't already in the park."

"We do," Claire nodded. "And they're being worked on, too. But people have expectations for the dinosaurs they've heard about and read about. A hybrid would be something brand new. The excitement factor, the anticipation…"

"Like I said before, they're dinosaurs. Wow enough." Owen commented with a shrug.

"Yeah, well," Claire sighed. "You don't have to deal with all the marketing around it. Your job isn't tied to how many people walk off that ferry each day, and how much they spend. We've been open for just over ten years now. Expectations are different. We need repeat visitors. And nothing brings people back faster than a 'can't miss' attraction."

"I'm so glad I'm not you," Owen said, surprised when Claire immediately laughed.

"Trust me, me too," she said, grinning at him. "I can't imagine what this place would look like if you were in control."

"Hey," Owen couldn't even pull off looking fake offended as he laughed with her. It definitely would be a lot different if he was the boss. A lot less people, although that would be on purpose.

They continued on their walk in silence until they reached the end of the trail. There was a bit of a rock ledge that was a good place to sit and take in the view, and they both went straight to it. Owen pulled out the water bottle he'd tucked into his back pocket and gulped down half. Claire shrugged off a small backpack, before pulling out her own and doing the same.

"How come you're coming to me?" Owen asked curiously. "Why not Masrani?"

"Mr. Masrani likes to think he knows everything that's happening," Claire confessed after a long pause. "But he's very out of the loop. He sees what he wants to see and ignores the rest."

"Sounds like Hoskins," Owen said with disgust.

"Similar," Claire admitted. "But at least Mr. Masrani's got good intentions. I don't know that I can say that about Hoskins."

"That's true," Owen nodded. "But, still, why me?"

"Who else?" Claire said. "I mean, seriously. I don't know who else who would believe me that this might not be a good thing. _And_, in my position, I can't actually be seen questioning it. Not from the outside. I'm the representative. I can't appear at odds with what we're doing."

"Are you?" Owen asked. "At odds, I mean."

"I don't know," Claire shrugged. "I wish I knew more. After the Indominus… I don't feel like I can say with the amount of information they're giving me."

"Yeah," Owen hummed his agreement. "What are you going to do?"

"Try to learn more," Claire said. "Although, I'm not sure _how_ yet. I still don't even know what the Indominus was made of. I might start there."

"Do you want some help?" Owen asked before he'd even thought through the implications.

"You'd want to help?" Claire looked skeptical.

"Who doesn't like a good mystery?" Owen grinned at her. "Besides, I could use something to fill my free time."

"You have free time?" Claire asked, like the concept was foreign to her.

"Apparently you get some, too," Owen said, giving her a gentle nudge. "I mean, you're out here, after all."

"Speaking of which," Claire looked down at her watch. "We need to be heading back. I could only carve out a couple of hours."

"Yeah, I don't want your life," Owen agreed, standing up and following her back along the trail. "I mean, I feel like I'm at the beck and call of my raptors, and even I get more than two consecutive hours to myself."

"I like to work," Claire replied. "I generally don't mind it."

"Work hard, play hard," Owen gave a suggestive wink, when she looked over at him. "That's my motto anyway."

"Yeah, yeah," Claire dismissed with a groan and wave of her hand.

They walked along the trail for a while, just enjoying the view. Owen was thinking over his offer of help. How was he going to do that, when she didn't seem to want to be seen out together?

"If I'm going to help you," Owen brought up, "we'll have to meet again."

"Right, so?" Claire said, looking unclear as to where he was going.

"We don't normally cross paths, and, well, this is a pretty small island…"

"You're thinking there's going to be talk?" Claire said flatly. "Surely, you know there's already been people talking."

"Well, yeah," Owen admitted. He'd heard the rumours. Or, some of them anyway. It seemed like they were multiplying by the day, each one more outlandish than the last.

"We should just capitalize on them," Claire shrugged, sounding indifferent to the whole concept. "Use them to our benefit."

"Use them?" Owen wasn't quite sure what she meant.

"If anyone asks, just say that we're friends," she clarified.

"I don't know that people will believe that," he disagreed.

"Why?"

"Well," Owen rubbed a hand on the back of his neck, feeling a little cornered.

"Don't tell me you've never had a friend who's female," Claire groaned.

"No, it's not that." Owen _was_ offended now. "I've had plenty of female friends. It's more… well… we went on that date."

"So?"

Owen couldn't prevent the blush that started to rise up. He was thankful that his tan would generally hide it from her prying eyes, but they'd now come to a stop on the trail, and Claire was looking at him questioningly. He ducked his head. "Let's just say that I haven't done a great job hiding that I…" he trailed off. Man, this was harder to admit than he'd expected.

"That you what?" There was something about Claire's tone that made Owen look up, catching the smirk that was threatening to escape.

He attempted to try and turn the tables on her. "We should just pretend that we're dating."

"Oh," Claire said, pausing, contemplating the idea. She gave a slow nod. "Okay."

"Okay?" Owen hadn't expected her to agree so easily. While their relationship was clearly changing, something akin to friendship emerging, he had still expected her to balk at the idea. To insist that it wasn't needed; not to cave so readily. "Really?"

"You're right, it'd probably be easier to sell than friends," she simply agreed. Owen glanced over at her, not all that surprised that it felt like he could see her dissecting the idea, weighing all its pros and cons. "If we said we're friends, I don't think people would be surprised to see us grabbing Starbucks or dinner together. But dating? Yeah, that would give us more freedom. It wouldn't be unexpected or uncalled for for you to come by my work, or vice versa. Definitely more flexibility with that." She gave him a once over, making Owen feel a bit like he was being evaluated. Claire nodded firmly. "I suppose I can fake-date you."

"Wow, thanks for that ringing endorsement," Owen said, rolling his eyes. "I'll have you know that there are _plenty_ of women who'd be happy, _thrilled_, to date me."

"That's a good point," Claire tilted her head, looking unsure for the first time in the discussion.

"What is?"

"You're not known to really… date."

"What do you mean? I date all the time."

"Exactly," Claire agreed. "You're known to go on lots of dates, but don't really _date_-date. Nothing long or long_er_ term."

"How would you know?" Owen asked, curiosity getting the better of him. They really hadn't interacted all that much prior to their one date. And even in the few months since, he could count their interactions on one hand.

"I did my research," Claire said. Owen knew immediately she hadn't meant to say that, and that she was fighting not to blush, but, unlike him, her pale skin gave her away. She stood up straighter, challenging him. "Do you think you can really do this? That you even _want_ to do this? With me?"

"It's just pretend," Owen dismissed her concerns. To be honest, he wasn't really sure what he was getting into. But, he didn't think it really mattered. It would be fake. If it ended up horrible, they could just have a pretend break up. "Besides, half the employees already _think_ we're dating. Nothing to it."

"I just… You do realize there's a possibility this could take some time, right? That it's not like they're just going to hand over all the documents tomorrow, or even next week," Claire said, looking at him as if unsure he'd really thought it through.

"I get that," Owen replied. "But something's going on. And no one else seems to be noticing." He let his gaze drift for a moment, gathering his thoughts, before he met hers straight on. "I was in the paddock with Molly. I saw what the Indominus could do. If Hoskins is involved… I don't trust him, Claire. I want to help. I hope it turns out that we're getting worried for no reason. I just–"

"–Have a feeling that something bad's going to happen? Yeah, me too," Claire said. She held out her hand, "Okay, let's do this." Owen looked down at it in surprise, but reached out to shake it, although not without another eye roll.

They started back along the trail and after a few steps, Owen glanced over to her, giving her a long probing look. "Huh," he said, drawing her attention to him, and she raised an eyebrow in question. He just continued forward, before letting out another "huh" a few steps later.

He was surprised she held off as long as she did, before she finally demanded, "What?"

"Never thought it'd be so easy to get a second date with you." Owen gave Claire a cheeky grin, chuckling when her eyes shot over to him.

"I'm only agreeing for your help, _Mr. Grady_," Claire said flaty. "I don't _want_ a second date."

"Whatever you say," Owen said, quickly sidestepping Claire's hand as she reached out to smack his arm.

* * *

_And the plot thickens... :) What is Wu up to? And will Claire and Owen be able to stop him? Should they even stop him? _

_I just finished writing some future angst scenes. So... heads up? :P _

_Oh, and on that note - I posted a one shot earlier this week called **Fireproof**. It's very angsty, but it has a happy-ish ending. _


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

"Mr. Masrani," Claire greeted her boss, sitting back in her chair, angled so she could stare out her office window during the call. After making her agreement with Owen, she'd been continuing to try to find more information. She wasn't having much luck. This was her next attempt, to try to appeal directly to Mr. Masrani himself, and see if he would at least let something slip or give her permission or access or _something_. She didn't like going in circles, and this felt even worse, as she didn't feel like she'd managed to take a single step in any direction.

"Claire." Masrani's response was informal as always. There were days where Claire was tempted to call him Simon, but she had never had the nerve to do so, not yet anyway. It was an area she felt increasingly uncomfortable with, the higher up the corporate ladder she had climbed, watching the easy camaraderie between Masrani and many of the other executives or high level scientists, versus her own interactions. It was hard to explain what it was exactly, without sounding petty. But the dynamic never felt like they were on as equal footing as he appeared to be with others. "To what do I owe this call?"

"I've been dealing with the continued fallout from Cooper Thompson's death along with the euthanization of the Indominus," Claire started. "While I've been able to handle most media inquiries, I have received questions that I've been unable to answer. There are questions about the genetic makeup. About what it was that gave the Indominus the abilities that it had. About why a behaviourist wasn't assigned immediately following the cannibalism incident, if not from the very start."

"It's only been a couple of weeks, Claire," Masrani replied, and Claire could hear the reproach in his tone. "It'll all blow over."

"It does not help our position, our argument about the safety and security of the guests and assets, when I can't even answer simple questions." Claire tried to get Masrani to understand. _He_ wasn't being hammered by interview after interview. He wasn't feeling the brunt of the impact. "I need answers."

"It doesn't matter anymore," Masrani dismissed her concerns again. "The Indominus is no one's concern. It's not being shown. We're not creating another. We've moved on. And it never had any interactions with the guests. We did our due diligence."

"Speaking of due diligence," Claire grabbed onto the opportunity. She hadn't expected Masrani to cave, but maybe she could get him to listen to reason from another angle. "This new asset, the one that Henry is working on, I need details."

"Nothing's been finalized yet," Masrani said. "There are no details until things get finalized."

"He said they were going to start incubating eggs in the next month or so. They must have the main details sorted out. I understand that there's always lots we won't know until it hatches and, even more so, until we watch it grow, but there has to be something I can work with. I need to know how to modify Paddock 11 so it will be ready. We need to sort out any changes that will be needed to our food supply chains. I need to start looking for a behaviourist."

"Oh Claire, you're ten steps ahead of where we are," Masrani chuckled, although the sound grated on Claire. "Plenty of time for all of that."

"But I _will_ get to know, won't I? What this one is being made of?" Claire pressed. "After the Indominus, the questions are going to be tougher. They're going to want more than 'the base genome is a T. rex' or whatever this one is."

"You'll have the information you need," was all Masrani would promise.

"Investors are going to want these details," Claire said. "I've got hopes we can still get Verizon Wireless on board, but they're going to want to know more about what they're getting into this time."

"You didn't need all these details on the Indominus," Masrani reminded her. "But, you'll get access to what you need, once it's finalized."

When Claire got off the phone a few minutes later, she continued staring out her window, although she wasn't really seeing anything. He was right, she hadn't needed that level of detail to sell the Indominus. But, look where that had got them. Didn't he get that? Didn't he see that they needed to do it differently this time?

o-o-o

Owen felt guilty. He had nothing to feel guilty about, or so he kept telling himself. But he still felt guilty. He was also a little drunk. He tripped down the bottom step, catching himself on the railing and barely keeping upright. Okay, make that definitely drunk.

He took a moment to collect himself, making sure he had his balance, before he moved away from the resort bungalow without a backwards glance.

Owen hadn't _planned_ on what happened. It's not like he'd been out on a date. He'd been watching the game and having beers with some of his friends at one of the pubs on Main Street. He _may_ have been dealing with his frustration over the raptors by drinking too much. But still, it wasn't like he had approached _her_. She'd come on to him. And, well, why should he have said no?

It was a cool evening, Costa Rican cool anyway, and the fresh air and wind biting at his cheeks helped sober him up a bit as he walked. Which was good, because he didn't really want to be stumbling all the way out to his place. And he definitely had drank too much to hop on his motorcycle anytime soon. Hopefully by the time he'd made it around the lagoon, considering that the monorail was closed for the night, he might be in better shape. Otherwise it was going to be a long walk out to his place.

Hmm, if he was remembering correctly, he may still have some beef jerky left in one of the saddle bags, a treat he normally kept around for the raptors. But, with nothing open, it'd be his best chance at finding something to put in his stomach. Did jerky help with being drunk? He was too drunk to think that through, he decided, continuing along the path.

Crossing in front of the main hotel building, he felt blinded by the light spilling out of the lobby, quickly looking away. He looked back after a moment, his gaze travelling up the building which, besides the lobby, was mostly dark. Near the top, he could see a couple of lights on, and he wondered who was still up, considering it was well after 1am now. He knew the top couple of floors were mainly condos for some of the higher-ups at the park. Maybe someone was working late.

Someone like Claire.

The thought sent a chill down his spine, and he suddenly felt a lot less drunk.

And a lot more guilty.

But he hadn't done anything wrong. Right? What were the rules when you were fake dating someone anyway?

o-o-o

**I was asked today if we broke up.** Owen read the message over a couple of times, before finally hitting send. He wasn't really sure if he should be saying anything. It wasn't like they had actually made a point to confirm they were dating in the first place, having chosen to just not respond to the rumours, knowing that most would take that as confirmation.

In the couple of weeks since they had met at the gondola, they had exchanged occasional texts, but neither had made a point to actually meet up with the other. Claire had told him about her useless conversation with Masrani and that she was still poking around. Owen admitted that he hadn't heard anything else, and really didn't have any clue how to try to move forward. The best he could offer was that the next time Hoskins was around, he'd pay closer attention to what he said. Hoskins liked to brag, he might let something slip.

**Oh?**

Claire's response didn't really surprise him. He hadn't been sure if he should even say anything. What did it matter, after all? It was all fake.

**If we want to keep our cover, we probably need to be seen interacting. **The idea of fake dating had seemed like a good idea at the time, but now he was wondering if it was even necessary. But, if she wanted to keep it up, they were going to have to actually put in some effort.

**What do you recommend?**

**Can you carve out any free time this week?**

There was a long pause, and Owen wondered what the hold up was. Was her schedule really that packed?

**I can do Thursday evening after 7. Otherwise, I might be able to free some time on the weekend.**

**Great. Dinner? **Thursday was still a few days away. They could discuss a plan in person. Figure out what they'd need to do to come across as believable.

**Sure. Winston's? Nobu?**

Neither were restaurants that Owen was going to suggest. He'd been thinking more like a second attempt at Margaritaville. Or maybe Sunrio. Maybe this whole idea wasn't a good one. Maybe they really were just too different. But… he did like steak.

**Winston's**

**I'll make a reservation**.

Of course she would. Owen rolled his eyes. She'd probably have a whole agenda for the dinner.

**See you then.**

o-o-o

He tried to be on time. He had told Barry that he _had_ to be on time, which had been both a smart and stupid decision, considering all the ribbing he'd received over it. The smart part was that their dinner would definitely be making it through the gossip chains, their dating status confirmed. And, to be fair to Barry, he had tried to help Owen leave the paddock on time. It wasn't either of their faults that the raptors were acting up and Owen couldn't get away.

When he'd finally left, he'd rushed home to shower, knowing he couldn't show up looking (and smelling) like he'd just left work. He did remember to text Claire, so that she'd know he was going to be late. He thought he deserved credit for that. Still, he felt bad slinking into the restaurant more than 30 minutes behind schedule. He wasn't known for being on time, but he wasn't usually _this_ late.

"Sorry," Owen apologized as he slid into his chair opposite Claire. "The raptors…"

"It's okay," Claire turned off her phone, setting it face down on the table. "Thanks for giving me a heads up. Everything okay?"

"Yeah, they were just being moody," Owen said, a frown crossing his face. "It's like they're going through a phase, trying to figure out exactly what my limits are and what buttons to push. They were much cuter when they were babies."

They paused their conversation for a moment as a waiter came by and asked if Owen wanted to start off with a drink. He ordered a glass of red wine and they decided to take the opportunity to put in their food orders too, as they were both ready.

"_Every_ baby animal is cute," Claire said, picking up their conversation thread after the waiter left. "The nursery is my favourite part of the park."

"Really?" Owen couldn't help his shocked tone. To be honest, he didn't think she actually really _saw_ the dinosaurs.

"Really," Claire said, sounding a bit defensive. "I don't have a lot of free time to get out and see most of the assets, but the nursery location makes it easy. I try to make a point of seeing them all before they're released into their paddocks."

"They're not assets," Owen groaned. "They're dinosaurs. Living beings, Claire."

"I know that," Claire replied, a grimace crossing her face. "It's easy to get caught up in the business lingo. Besides, they're not _all_ dinosaurs."

"Fine, _animals_, then," Owen said. "I haven't been to the nursery since the raptors were born," he admitted. "I'm not sure if I'd actually have clearance."

"Yeah, probably not," Claire nodded. "We try to keep visitors to a minimum. While we've improved the survival rates significantly over the years, it's still very touch and go the first few weeks. I could take you by sometime, if you want."

"I may take you up on that," Owen agreed. "I'm lucky I ended up with four raptors in the end. We had a few different groups, another variable for me to study." Owen rolled his eyes at that. "Like there wouldn't have been enough to learn about them if they all had the same genetic makeup. But, not even all the batches produced viable embryos in the end. Delta and Charlie are from the same batch. But Echo and Blue are from two others."

"What _is_ the goal of IBRIS?" Claire asked.

"You don't know?" Owen looked surprised.

"InGen likes to have its secrets," Claire shrugged. "I get reports and stuff, but no real details. More just confirmation that nothing going on there is going to affect anything in the Park. And details about any incidents, since ACU and medical are contracted through the Park."

"You hear about any incidents?" Owen asked, looking sheepish.

"Yeah," Claire nodded, looking intrigued by his reaction. "To be honest, I don't read them very carefully. Why? Should I?"

"Nothing," Owen tried to dismiss it. He quickly moved on. "With IBRIS we're trying to determine the intelligence level of the raptors. What are their capabilities? Can they reason? Strategize? How good is their memory? Can they, or, in my opinion, _will they_ follow orders? Stuff like that."

"What's the end goal? What do they want to use the research for?"

"There's a few goals," Owen admitted. "But the main one is to determine if they can be used outside of the Park."

"Used… What do you mean by used?"

"Search and recovery, security, and military," Owen almost mumbled the last one.

"_Military_?" Claire sat back in her chair, a thoughtful look settling on her face. "Did you know?"

"They didn't say it when they hired me," Owen said. "But, I suspected. I mean, that _is_ my background. And, my animal behaviourist background is with sea animals, not land, so I figured there had to be something more that they wanted from me."

"And you think Hoskins is tied to what Wu's creating," Claire murmured. "This adds another level to it all."

"We don't know for sure about Hoskins," Owen reminded her. "But, yeah. He's been trying to push me to run a field test the last few months. To take the training up another level. I've been able to hold him off so far. The raptors aren't ready."

"Field test? Where?"

"I don't think he's thought it through completely," Owen shrugged. "I mean, there's no way we could do one here."

"Absolutely not!" Claire was adamant.

"It's not a concern right now, anyway," Owen reached across the table, grabbing Claire's hand. Her gaze jumped to his, startled by the touch, and he made to pull back, feeling a bit embarrassed by the action and her response. He hadn't even thought it through, it had just been instinct. Claire turned her hand in his, grasping his fingers lightly. His gaze darted from their hands to her eyes.

"We're supposed to be dating," Claire shrugged, a slight blush creeping up her cheeks.

"Right," Owen agreed. They were interrupted a moment later as their food arrived, and he let go after giving her hand a quick squeeze. Once the waiter moved away and they had taken their first bites, Owen looked over at her. "Actually, we should probably talk about that."

"About what?"

"Our… dating," Owen said, gaze darting around to see if anyone was close by. He didn't want to use the word 'fake.' He knew if they were found out… well, his reputation would take a bit of a beating, probably around him being whipped or something stupid. But Claire… Claire would definitely not come out unscathed.

"What about it?" Claire took a sip of her wine, looking at him curiously.

"Well, if we want to keep it up, we need to make it _look_ like we're dating," Owen said. "If we're never seen together, people will start saying we broke up, like they have been."

"My schedule is really full," Claire reminded him. "I don't actually have a lot of time to date."

"Surely we can squeeze in the odd lunch or dinner," Owen said. "I mean, you gotta eat, right?" Claire looked away at that comment, and Owen frowned, wondering what it was he had said. He put it aside, continuing, "If we find out anything, we'll need to actually talk about it. It'd be easier to do so in person, not just via text or phone calls."

"Yeah," Claire agreed, her gaze focused on her plate for a moment, before she looked up and met his gaze again. "I'll take a look at my calendar, see what I can do."

"Great," Owen smiled at her, before cutting off another piece of his steak.

The two ate in silence for a few minutes, surrounded by the white noise of the other diners, silverware clattering against plates and muffled conversation.

"It's probably a little odd if we only ever meet for meals," Claire commented after a while.

"What else do you want to do?" Owen asked.

"I don't know," Claire shrugged.

"Well, what do you normally do in your free time?"

"Sleep," Claire admitted, with a bit of a laugh. "Read a book. It's not something I think about all that much, since I don't usually have any."

"Well, us _sleeping_ together would definitely support that we're dating," Owen joked, quickly holding his hands up in defense at the half-hearted glare she threw him. "We could just watch a movie or something."

"Isn't that kind of date like?" Claire looked skeptical.

"Well, that _is_ the point," Owen reminded her. "Seriously, though, it doesn't matter what we do. We just need people to know we're spending time together. We could be sitting in the same room doing paperwork for all they know." He caught the glimmer in her eye, and quickly added, "I'm not suggesting we do that. In fact, let's _not_. Anything but, _please_."

"Anything, huh?" Claire asked, and Owen couldn't help but enjoy the spark of mischief in her eyes.

"Within reason," he shrugged. "Think of this as an opportunity to finally force some breaks into your schedule. You could even just come out and lie in my hammock."

"I did enjoy the hammock," Claire nodded. "Okay. Let me see what I can do about my schedule. I'll get back to you."

o-o-o

If there was one truth to the business world, it was that nothing was ever done without a stack of paperwork. There was _always_ a paper trail. So where was it?

Claire had spent every spare minute she'd had over the past week trying to track down _something_. She kept switching between going through old paperwork in hopes of maybe identifying new information about the Indominus, and searching recent requests to see if she could understand what they were making now. Neither seemed to be getting her anywhere. Which didn't make any sense – there had to be something. She was starting to doubt her own abilities. And there was nothing she hated more than doubting herself.

She'd started to collect notes on her phone. Trying to keep track of any tidbits of information that she thought could maybe be something. But, so far, her notes were mainly just a rehash of her and Owen's suspicions. A bullet about the phone call with Hoskins that Owen overheard. Bullets about Wu and the increased security and the area of the lab he was trying to keep her away from. And bullets about what had happened with the Indominus.

Claire had also accessed Cooper Thompson's notes on the Indominus to see if she could learn anything there. But, to her dismay, he hadn't kept much. And what she had gone through, was mainly just him noting general information about the Indominus' behaviour; conclusions that she had already known. She'd mention the lack of detail to Owen, who had just shrugged, and said that not everyone was as interested in writing reports, like she was. He'd offered to take a look through the notes, but they hadn't had a chance for him to do so. Not that Claire expected he'd discover anything new.

A ping from her phone distracted Claire away from her laptop and she picked it up to see a message from Owen. **Do you know why the vets are doing an extra checkup?**

**No.** Claire quickly replied. **Is something going on?**

**Not sure.** Owen's reply was short. There were three blinking dots that indicated he was typing more and Claire waited him out. She was curious what had him on his phone during the workday. **They just showed up today and said that they'd been asked to do an exam. They don't know who requested it. It wasn't us.**

Huh, that was odd, Claire thought. There were very few veterinarians trained to work with dinosaurs. In fact, there was only one university in the states that offered such training through a partnership with Jurassic World. The vets on staff were always busy just keeping up with routine checkups and then dealing with any issues that arose. Unscheduled checkups were rare, as they put undue stress on an already stressed system. **Are they doing anything abnormal?** Claire asked.

**I don't think so. But it's not my area of expertise. Unless it was really abnormal, I'm not sure I'd know.** Owen's reply came quickly. **Do you think I should be concerned?**

**No. **Claire was sure there was a reason. Maybe something was going around and the vets were doing extra checkups. **I'll see if I can find out who requested it and why.**

"Hey, Claire?"

Claire looked up from her phone to see that Zara had entered her office. "What's up?" Claire asked.

"Well, I know you don't like gossip," Zara started a bit hesitant, but Claire gestured for her to continue. "It's just… There's been a rumour going around about Owen."

"Oh?" Claire hadn't been expecting that. She'd just assumed there was something new about her that Zara wanted to give her a heads up on. She heard her phone ping, likely with a response from Owen, but she ignored it, waiting for Zara to finish.

"I know you're dating, and so it's probably _wrong_, but people are talking about how he hooked up with a guest the other week," Zara confessed.

Claire wasn't sure how she was supposed to respond. She wasn't even sure if it was true, afterall. Should she laugh it off? Or say that she and Owen weren't exclusive? Would that make her look better or worse? "Hm," Claire said, aiming for an air of nonchalance. Like the whole thing wasn't making her stomach churn. She hated to admit it, but she thought it probably _was_ true.

Zara just gave her a pensive look but didn't comment further, which Claire was thankful for. After Zara left, Claire looked down at her phone. There was a single message from Owen.

**Thanks. Should we meet up again soon?**

o-o-o

It took a couple of days before they could get their schedules to line up. And Claire was happy to point out to Owen that it wasn't just _her_ schedule that was the problem. He had feedings and training sessions he had to keep, and he repeatedly told her that routine was important for the raptors. That they, unlike people, didn't understand calendars and shifting plans.

When they finally did manage to get their schedules to align, they only had time to grab a quick lunch at Yoshinoya on Main Street. They got their orders to go, taking them outside and snagging a free table under a bit of shade.

"So," Claire said, carefully unwrapping her chopsticks.

"So?" Owen asked, already digging into his grilled steak bowl.

Claire had been debating whether to bring up the rumours of his supposed hook up. Part of her was sure she should just ignore it. But, another part of her couldn't really let it go. She'd caught a few people looking at her oddly, and she'd seen a few whispering. It wasn't exactly unusual behaviour, but considering that people had thought she and Owen were dating before they had even agreed to fake date, that news was already old. The only thing she could think it was related to was the more recent rumour about Owen.

She was wishing now that she'd saved the conversation about the vet check up until they had sat down. But, she'd already filled him in on what she had been able to learn. Not that it had taken long. Claire hadn't been able to discover anything that seemed to be of any use. The check up had been requested by Wu, which _had_ raised her interest, briefly, but then she'd seen that there was paperwork about some infection going around that was affecting theropods and Wu had ordered check ups on all of them, not just the raptors, as a preventative measure. Owen had also looked intrigued at the mention of Wu, but he'd agreed with her, that in the end it seemed like they were probably reaching.

"How's your training going?" Claire finally asked, unsure what else to say.

"It's been a good day," Owen said, a grin crossing his face. "They got over the check up faster this time. Last time they were in a bad mood for a week. This morning they were actually mostly following my instructions."

"Mostly? How well do they normally follow?" The idea of being happy that the raptors were _mostly_ following instructions felt odd to Claire. She never expected less than 100% from herself _or_ her employees. A standard on which she got a fair amount of pushback. But, that was because most people assumed that meant she was expecting perfection. She wasn't. Failure and mistakes were always going to be part of the process. What she expected, was that people were always aiming for 100%, and when failure invariably did happen, that they were upfront about it; that they informed others as soon as they knew, so that everyone could adjust their own expectations and schedules ahead of time, instead of last minute.

"It's hit and miss," Owen admitted with a slight shrug. "They don't always want to cooperate."

"They're _choosing_ not to follow?" Claire asked, eyebrow raised in skepticism.

"Sometimes," Owen nodded. He took another bite of his meal, chewing and swallowing before continuing. "They're smart. _Really_ smart. Possibly the second smartest species on Earth right now. Maybe first, considering some humans." Claire rolled her eyes at that, but Owen just grinned. "Some days they're just not into it, maybe feeling off or tired or something. Those days they act out as they try to avoid whatever I'm asking. Other days they're completely on board, and it's smooth sailing. And sometimes they're just plain messing with me." Owen paused for another bite of his lunch. "Like, one week, I started noticing that it wasn't that they just weren't following my commands, but that they were doing the exact opposite. If I asked them to hold, they'd start moving around, but the moment I told them to go, they'd all stand there. Or when I told them to follow me and I'd walk one way, they'd all move the other."

"Sounds frustrating," Claire said. "I don't think I'd have the patience for that."

"Some days it feels like being a preschool teacher," Owen acknowledged. "It's not for everyone. But…"

"But you love it," Claire said with a smile that matched his.

"Yeah," Owen shrugged again. "Animals over people. Every day of the week."

"Thanks," Claire said, mock offended.

Owen laughed, "Hey, you're only using me as a means to an end."

"Speaking of that," Claire decided to use the offered segue. "There's something we should probably discuss."

"Oh? Problems already?"

"No, not really," Claire said. "It's more… there's a new rumour going around."

"What are they talking about now?" Owen groaned.

"You, actually," Claire replied, looking down at her lunch, pushing a piece of fish around her bowl.

"Me?" That got Owen's attention. He wasn't usually part of the gossip chain.

"It's… I'm not saying I believe it," Claire scrambled to figure out how to word it. "And, even if it's true, there's nothing _wrong_, exactly. It's more just…"

"What is it?" Owen was looking at her intently now, and Claire shifted her gaze just to the side, unable to hold his stare.

"There's a lot of expectations," Claire said after a moment. "On _me_," she quickly clarified, seeing Owen's confused look. "Because of who I am, the Operations Manager and all that. Everything I do gets looked at and judged. Every decision I make." Claire paused, before adding. "And who I date."

Owen sat back in his chair, a thoughtful look passing over his face. "Me, you mean."

Claire nodded.

"Is it that I'm a raptor trainer?" Owen asked.

Claire couldn't tell what he was thinking, his expression flat. "No, I don't think it's _who_. I mean, well, of course _who_ has something to do with it, but it's still… Like I said, I'm not judging you, but… the rumour is that you went out… that you were seen with a guest, last week." Claire looked away again, hating that she was stammering her way through this. What was it about Owen that seemed to knock her off balance? "I don't need to know if it's true," Claire added quickly, sensing that Owen was about to confirm or deny. "I didn't want to mention it, really. It's just that…"

"People are judging you," Owen finished and Claire nodded, an embarrassed flush rising up her cheeks. "Oh," he looked a bit sheepish. "I guess I never thought about that."

"I don't have that luxury," Claire said. Owen looked surprised by that admission, and Claire added. "It comes with the territory."

"Of being the boss?" Owen questioned.

"That. But mostly being female," Claire shrugged. "It's just the way it is. 'Boys will be boys' is used to excuse a lot."

Claire looked away, missing Owen's probing look. An uncomfortable silence was settling over the table as she surveyed their surroundings, all the happy guests decked out in Jurassic World swag. Then her eyes landed on them. Two employees, handlers from the Gentle Giants petting zoo if she wasn't mistaken, were sitting a few tables away, staring in their direction. Claire snapped her gaze back to her food, suppressing her instinct to sigh. The constant scrutiny never ended.

At Claire's quick movement, Owen looked over to see what had startled her. His gaze landed on the employees, who immediately looked away when they caught him looking. He turned back to Claire, before taking a deep breath and saying, "Okay, what can I do?"

"I think, for the time being, that we probably need to look… to act exclusive," Claire said with a wince.

"Are you," Owen started, and Claire looked down when she felt his hand grabbing hers, lacing their fingers together. Warily, she raised her eyes to his, to see he was watching her with a teasing smile. "Are you asking me to _go steady_?"

"Ugh," Claire groaned, yanking her hand back. "Owen."

"Hey, you're the one who brought it up," Owen said, laughing. A quick glance at his watch, and he pushed back his chair, standing up. Claire followed his lead, gathering up their garbage and they headed over to the nearest trash can. After disposing of their garbage, Owen reached out and grabbed Claire's hand again, stopping her as she was about to head off. "Seriously, though," Owen said, "We can do that."

"Are you sure?" Claire asked hesitantly, she felt unsure that Owen actually could, or that he would even want to, pull this off.

"Of course," Owen said with a quick shrug, dismissing her concerns.

Claire was going to push back, but, really, she didn't want to talk about it. She decided to just accept him at his word. "Ok," Claire smiled. "Thanks." Without thinking, she took a half step forward, reaching up and giving him a quick kiss. She'd barely touched her lips to his cheek, when she realized what she was doing and quickly backed away, a blush rising up her face.

Owen looked a little surprised, but he just gave her one of his easy smiles. "I've got to get back to the paddock. See you later?"

"Yeah," Claire nodded, watching as he turned and walked away. Had she really just done that? She could feel the heat of her cheeks. She watched until he was out of sight, before turning to head back to the control room. Her gaze landed on the two employees, who were again staring in her direction. This time, Claire stood taller, rationalizing that at least any possible rumours they started would be in her favour. Regaining her confidence, she headed back to work. She could overthink this later.

* * *

_I'm having a lot of fun writing this story, I hope you're having a lot of fun reading. There's a long way to go yet, and lots of dinosaur action to come._

_Oh, and if you're new to my stuff, please don't forget to also check out **The Missing Years** that I'm writing jointly with **EliseCollier**. It covers the gap between JW and FK, and while primarily focuses on Claire and Owen, we do get into Wu and Mills as well. If you're enjoying this, I think you'll enjoy that too. _

_Also, if you haven't read any of my other stuff, click on my name to see all of my other JW fics. And check out my bookmarks too, for lots of other great JW fics to read. One of the best way to find fics to read is to check out what authors you like have bookmarked._


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

"He's back," Barry told Owen quietly, approaching him by the raptor harnesses. The raptors weren't currently in them, but Owen was checking over Echo's, as the last time she'd been in hers, she'd been grumbling and seemed to be irritated by something. He was trying to figure out what it might be.

"Who?" Owen asked.

"Hoskins."

"Again?" Owen looked out the gates towards the open area around the paddock. He saw Hoskins talking with a few of the workers. "He was just here. What's he want now?"

"I don't know," Barry replied. "Are you behind on the reports?"

"When am I not?" Owen said, and Barry snickered. "Actually, I'm almost up-to-date. I doubt he's here about that."

"Well, maybe you'll get to find out. He's, uh, he's headed this way." Barry moved towards the gate.

"Hey, where are you going?" Owen called after him.

"You're on your own," Barry replied, slipping out of the gate and closing it behind him before Hoskins could get through.

"Grady," Hoskins said, moving along the cage until he was as close as he could get.

"What's up, Hoskins?" Owen asked, crouching down so he could peer more easily into the harness, running his hands along all the edges.

"Checking on my asset," Hoskins replied.

"They're dinosaurs, not assets," Owen grumbled.

"I was talking about you," Hoskins corrected him.

"What about me?" Owen was running his hand along the muzzle when he felt a slight catch. He stood up, bending over the harness, trying to see what his fingers could feel. It felt like a piece of metal had somehow become bent, and was now poking into the harness. Maneuvering around, he was finally able to confirm what he could feel, and he straightened up, moving towards the tool box he'd brought with him, looking for some pliers. Pulling a pair from the box, he looked over at Hoskins who hadn't answered. "What do you want?"

"What do you use the harnesses for?" Hoskins asked.

The context switch startled Owen, but he answered anyway, "Mainly for checkups."

"I thought you put them out for those," Hoskins sounded confused.

"Once a quarter we do," Owen nodded. "When the vets give them a full physical. But most of the time we just need to do cursory exams, make sure they aren't hurt. The less we can put them under the better. For them. And for us. I need them to trust me. Every time they get tranq'd I have to deal with a setback in our relationship."

"They hold grudges?" Hoskins was skeptical.

"They're smart," Owen reminded him. "I was trying not to be around when it would happen, but they caught on to that quickly and became harder to deal with. We were worried they would hurt themselves. It's better if I'm here."

Owen moved away from the side of the cage, returning to the harness so he could attempt his repair.

"Those raptors are worth a bundle," Hoskins said.

"I know," Owen rolled his eyes, glad his back was to Hoskins. He didn't know the exact costs or anything, but he knew that bringing back extinct species wasn't cheap. When the Indominus was put down, he'd heard rumours that the dinosaur had cost something like $30 million. He wasn't sure if the value was correct (it _was _a rumour) but he wouldn't be surprised.

"And we've got a lot of money invested in here," Hoskins added.

"Yeah, so?" Owen replied distractedly as he used the pliers to try to straighten the bent piece.

"Just saying. I wouldn't be doing my job if I wasn't making sure it was being spent wisely," Hoskins said.

"I don't control the budget," Owen reminded him. And it was true, he didn't. Anything he wanted for the raptors, from their initial "toys" to their food supply, he had to submit a request for and hope it got approved. A few times, annoyed with the amount of paperwork involved, he'd just gone and bought what he'd wanted himself.

"I know. But most of the decisions on how it's spent are based on requests you've made. I need to make sure we're getting our money's worth."

"You'd get even more if you required less paperwork," Owen said, running his fingers back along the muzzle, confirming that his repair job appeared to have done the trick. Of course, the real test would be getting Echo back in her harness, but that would be later. He didn't like to use them anymore than necessary. He went back to the toolbox, replacing the pliers and picking it up, moving towards the gate. "Every hour I spend filing reports is an hour I'm not training them," Owen reminded Hoskins. Hoskins fell into step beside him as they crossed over to the sheltered area where they stored the tools.

"You know the higher ups," Hoskins shrugged. "Those management paper-pushers wouldn't know what to do without it."

Owen put away the toolbox, before looking at Hoskins who was still following him. "Speaking of paperwork…"

"Fine," Hoskins finally turned away, letting Owen escape towards the small office building. While he _did_ have paperwork, he'd actually been planning on doing an extra training session with the raptors. Owen just didn't feel like doing so with Hoskins there. Hopefully he'd leave soon. In the meantime, he supposed he could actually work on a report.

o-o-o

Claire hated feeling out of control. She hated when she couldn't predict outcomes. And she hated having to rely on others. Karen had commented before that she didn't understand why Claire liked working at Jurassic World, when daily she encountered all of those problems. Well, not necessarily the out of control part. But living beings were inherently unpredictable and they were working with extinct species where they had to base most of their decisions on a lot of guesswork that scientists had made from fossils. Unpredictable seemed to tame a word for what they dealt with day to day.

Managing the whole park, with over 3,000 employees, meant that Claire couldn't micromanage every little detail. She had been forced to learn to rely on others. As soon as Claire had moved into a management role, she'd made it a priority to cultivate a team of employees that she could trust. Employees that she could rely on. As she'd continued her corporate climb, she'd made a point of doing the same at each level, often bringing some of those employees with her. Zara was one of them.

She'd hired Zara right out of her undergrad, and she'd become an indispensable part of Claire's work ever since. Claire considered herself a highly organized person, but there were days when she wondered if Zara actually had her beat. She still wasn't sure when she'd given Zara complete control over her life, but one day, she'd woken up and realized that was exactly what had happened. At first, she'd wanted to wrestle it back. But, after a little introspection and fighting her instincts, she'd realized it was actually to her benefit. And that she had more time to focus on the bigger picture when she didn't have to worry about who was asking for a meeting and when she could fit them in.

She was realizing, however, that having given up that control, it made it even harder to have a relationship, even a fake one. Because she now felt like she had to go through her own assistant to find out when she had time available for "dates" or whatever you could call what she and Owen were doing. This was a downside of having her days planned out to the last minute that she'd never considered. Of course, it'd never been a problem before… but she wasn't going to dwell on that.

Claire had brought up the idea of visiting the raptor paddock with Zara yesterday, seeing if it could fit into her schedule. She'd found herself rambling, trying to justify her ask, saying that she hadn't been there in months and that, while IBRIS wasn't under her control, it was probably still a good idea that she stop by occasionally. Thankfully Zara had cut her off, grinning at her unease and Claire knew she had just made her real reason all the more obvious. Zara had simply said that Claire could squeeze in time for a visit just after lunch, but she'd have to take one of her calls in the car.

She was still embarrassed over the whole thing, but Zara had said calmly, and without judgement, to let her know if Claire ever wanted her to free up time or anything else she could do to help. Claire was still trying to figure out how to take her up on that without having to be obvious about it.

In the meantime, though, she was feeling nervous about her original plan. She hadn't told Owen that she was coming, and, well, _should_ she have? It was showing up at his work, after all. Except, she was there on business. Sort of. That was the line she was going to stick with, if he asked. Pulling into the raptor paddock, she parked off to the side. She saw a few people look over at her vehicle, but no one moved in her direction, and after checking herself in the mirror, she climbed out of the car, walking towards the paddock, scanning the area for Owen.

"He's in the office." Claire heard someone call out, and she changed direction, heading towards the low building. Pulling open the door, she entered, walking slowly down the hallway. Peeking through a couple of doorways, she finally found him sitting behind a desk and pecking away at a keyboard (two fingers, she noticed with a grimace), scowl on his face.

"Seriously? You can't type?" Claire asked, standing in the doorway.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" Owen asked, looking up, startled at her presence. "Did something happen?"

"Two fingers, really, Owen?" Claire said, entering the office and looking around. It was bigger than she expected, and more organized, too, if a bit crowded. The back wall behind Owen had metal shelves that were laden with books, a printer, paperwork, and binders. There was a map of Nublar on the wall and a calendar.

"I hate this," Owen just sighed, shoving away the keyboard. "It's why most of my reports are videos." He pushed away from the desk, leaning back in his chair and looking up at her. "Not that I'm not happy to see you, but… _did_ something happen?"

"No," Claire answered, her eyes darting away from his. She pretended to scan the office again, buying herself a couple of seconds to regain control. After Owen had mentioned a couple of weeks before that they needed to be seen together if they were going to keep up this pretense about fake dating, she'd been tracking their encounters (she was _organized_, okay) and yesterday she'd realized they hadn't met up in a few days. Not that she was going to tell _him_ that. It unnerved her that she felt sort of unbalanced when she interacted with Owen. Almost like she was vying for his approval at the cost of her normal confident self. "Nothing's happened. I actually came out hoping to get a tour of the paddock."

"You've been here," Owen said, but he was already standing up, and gesturing her towards the door. "What do you need a tour for?"

"I know IBRIS isn't under my control," Claire said, and then winced as Owen looked over at her, snickering at the word control. "But I would still like to have a good idea of what's going on and what's here. Better to be prepared and all that. And last time I was here I didn't see all that much."

"That's 'cause your eyes were glued to your phone," Owen said, pointing at the device she was clutching tightly. "Are you going to be able to ignore it this time?"

As if taunting her, her phone buzzed in response to his question, a text message coming through. "Sorry," Claire apologized, checking and dismissing the message. She raised her gaze back to Owen's. "I can't just ignore them. Sometimes I wish I could."

Claire managed to get through most of the tour of the paddock with limited interruptions, only having to pause Owen once as she took a phone call. He took her up the catwalk again and, similarly to last time, they stuck to the outside edges. This time, he was pointing out the security features that they had on the paddock and comparing them to what was (or more accurately _wasn't_) at Paddock 11. He'd already conveyed most of these thoughts when he'd submitted his report back after the incident, but she found it helpful to actually see it in context. She didn't see the raptors, but Owen told her the girls preferred the cover of the trees when they weren't training.

"How do you know they haven't escaped?" Claire asked, half teasingly, but mostly serious.

"Because we have eyes everywhere," Owen replied. "I mean that somewhat seriously, too. We've got cameras that cover the gated area, as well as the whole perimeter. We'd catch them. Besides, after the Indominus, we can access that locator system on the computer."

That was something Claire had pushed for. It had seemed crazy, in hindsight, that they hadn't already made that accessible at each paddock, especially with all the other tech they had floating around the park.

As they finished up the tour, and Claire had glanced at her watch noting the time, she'd apologized and said she had to be getting back, she had a meeting she couldn't miss. Owen walked with her towards her car, the two ignoring the whispers and glances from the other workers. They hadn't stopped since they'd first stepped out of the office together.

"You know, Hoskins was here yesterday," Owen told her, opening her car door.

"Did he say something?" Claire asked, sliding into the car.

"No, but he was here only last week. He doesn't usually come by this often."

"Easier to monitor progress if he's here than just from your reports," Claire offered with a shrug.

"Maybe," Owen looked doubtful. "It's harder to work when he's around. I hope he's not going to make this a new thing. I could do with less of him, not more."

"Well, the more he's around, the more he might let something slip," Claire said, reaching for the door to shut it.

Owen moved out of the way, although he kept his grip on the door, and he leaned down closer to her. "Thanks for the visit. It's good to keep up our appearances."

"Yeah, well," Claire tried to prevent her gaze from sliding to her phone and the reminder she knew would pop up in another few days. As she moved her gaze back towards Owen, she realized that a number of paddock workers were still watching the two of them. She bit her lip, debating momentarily, before she stretched up and kissed him quickly on the cheek, just as she had once before. When he looked at her in surprise, she just shrugged. "For appearances."

Before Owen could say anything, her phone rang, and Claire sighed. "That's my meeting. I'll talk to you later."

Owen gave her a quick wave, shutting her car door as Claire answered the call. She started her car and pulled out of the paddock, giving a final glance in the rear-view mirror and watching as Owen headed back up the steps to the catwalk.

o-o-o

The following week, Owen wasn't surprised when he looked up one day to see Hoskins strolling about the paddock. After barely ever coming by, Hoskins was now visiting about twice a week. Something had clearly changed and Owen was determined to figure out what. The only thing he could think of was that it was connected to whatever new hybrid Wu was creating in the lab. And if that was true, then he was hopeful that he would be able to glean some information.

Heading down the stairs with the empty rat bucket, Owen nodded at Hoskins as he passed by him. Hoskins immediately turned away from whoever he had been talking to to trail after him.

"I'm sorry I missed your training session," Hoskins announced after watching Owen rinse out the bucket and store it away.

"You didn't miss much," Owen shrugged. It had been another pretty fruitless session, with him asking for one thing while the raptors did their own thing.

"From your reports, it feels like things are moving backwards," Hoskins commented, following Owen as he moved back out to the main area.

"Feels like that some days," Owen nodded. He wasn't really sure what to do next. He didn't feel like being trapped in his office with Hoskins, but he didn't actually have anything else pressing to do. He _had_ been thinking of just leaving for a bit and going home and taking a break or working out his frustrations on his punching bag. Of course, that was easier to do when your boss wasn't watching.

"Have you considered changing up your methods?" Hoskins asked. Owen looked over at him in surprise. Hoskins had never tried to give him advice on how to do his job before. In fact, Hoskins had been pretty clear in the past that he'd hired Owen because _Owen_ knew what he was doing. "I've been reading up on negative reinforcement strategies. Some trainers have had a lot of success with them."

"I know about it. But that's a methodology I don't subscribe to," Owen replied firmly. It was also a methodology he didn't understand how anyone who really loved animals could subscribe to. Sure, there are always instances where negative reinforcement may be the correct solution. But it should not be the _preferred_ choice.

"There was one study–"

"The best successes have always come from trainers and animals who build a relationship," Owen interrupted him. "And the strongest relationships are never ones that are built on punishment."

"It's not _punishment_, exactly," Hoskins tried to reframe. "I mean, the one I was reading didn't call it that."

"If you don't do what I want and I take away something you like, what _would_ you call that?" Owen rolled his eyes. "I know some people like to pretend it's just another behaviour modification technique. And, sure, that _is_ the goal, but it's not one I'm comfortable doing. And, it's not one that's had successful long term outcomes. Short term gains, sure, but that's not what we're looking for here." Owen was starting to get confused. Did Hoskins really think Owen was just going to change his whole training plan just because Hoskins mentioned a study? That Owen would just toss aside everything he knew and had been building on?

"So how do you explain all your setbacks? If your method is supposedly superior…"

"You've got to see these raptors more like people than objects," Owen tried to explain. This was what he hated most about his job—too many people saw the raptors as just _things_. Things that could be easily molded into whatever they wanted, whether it was an attraction for the park or a domesticated military machine. "They've got personalities. And not only that, but they have good days and bad days. Days where they're grumpy or mad. And days when they're happy and calm. How well our training sessions go depends on the day and on their moods. But, even though today, for example, wasn't a great day, it's not like we're back at square one. We're still moving forward. A bad day now is not the same as a bad day a year ago, or even 4 months ago."

Hoskins fell silent for a minute and Owen thought he might be able to get away and find something more productive to do. But then Hoskins spoke up again. "You used to go in the cage with them, right?" Owen nodded. "But you can't anymore. How did that affect your training?"

"Well, I wouldn't be able to train them at all if I was dead," Owen rolled his eyes at Hoskins, looking past him towards the paddock. This was actually still a bit of a sore point. He really wished that he _could_ still go in the cage. He wanted to be at their level and working with them more closely. He also didn't like how many people always seemed to be around to watch his training sessions, even if they were more standing on guard or doing other tasks around the paddock. Sure, on days it went well it felt good to have witnesses who could celebrate with him. But on all the other days, it just seemed to make the failures loom larger. "I always knew I wasn't going to be able to be in the paddock with them forever. The biggest downside, honestly, is that we lost our ability to do one-on-one training. When they were smaller, before we had them in this paddock, I used to do sessions with them individually. It gave me a chance to develop a closer bond with each one, and to also learn more about their personalities. Blue, for example, is much more empathetic than the others. But, now that they're bigger, we don't have the space or area for me to continue to do that."

"I thought I saw you working one-on-one with Blue just last week?" Hoskins was confused.

"I sometimes try to run drills with just one or two of them at a time," Owen nodded. While he still thought the lack of a separate area for him to work with them individually was still the biggest loss, he hadn't given up all his hope on trying to do so. "But it rarely works out as well as I hope. It's hard to get the others to leave us alone. They're more interested in what I'm doing when I'm not asking them to do something." In fact, he'd been chagrined during a recent exercise, when he'd realized that Echo was refusing to cooperate, but that Charlie in the background had been following every command perfectly.

"How long did you stay with them in the cages?"

"We made it almost a year and a half. At that point, the space we were using was getting too small and the paddock out here was ready for them. I may have been able to go a bit longer, but it's hard to say. When they were still babies, I could go in with all four and be okay. By the end of it, I could only do one-on-one. They were getting too big to be that close to. Except for maybe Blue. I think I might still be okay if it was just me and Blue." And this was something he really wished he could try. Not that he was going to say that to Hoskins, or next thing he'd know Hoskins would be somehow getting Blue out of her cage for some field test or something, and pretending it had been all Owen's idea. For now, he was limited to trying to maintain his individual bonds by spending time with them when they were in their harnesses. It was better than nothing, but it still didn't feel like enough.

"But you were in the cage just a few months ago. When the kid fell in. They didn't attack you then."

"I was in the cage for only a couple of minutes, and the whole time ACU was ready to take them out," he reminded Hoskins. Owen had been waiting for Hoskins to mention that event. He was still surprised that the fallout from it had been pretty much nonexistent. But, he supposed everything that happened with the Indominus that day eclipsed it all. "That wasn't a training session. That was a combination of luck and skill. They were surprised. They didn't have a chance to plan. I don't know that I'd be so lucky if it happened again."

"Will you try it again?"

"No." _Try it_? Like it was just a walk in the park? After the event Owen had actually revisited all the safety protocols for the paddock and had made sure that everyone was clear that a loose pig was _not_ an emergency and not something anyone should ever risk their lives for.

"Why not?"

"Because I don't have a death wish. Besides, we're making gains. I don't want to mess with my training plan. Even if you don't see it, all of these sessions have a goal. If I went in again and things went badly—which is the most likely outcome—it's going to send us spiraling backwards."

"But if it went well?" Hoskins pushed.

"If it went well, that would be great. But the downside is just not a risk I'm willing to take," Owen told him. "It's not worth it."

"It doesn't have to be you. What about Bar–" Hoskins was interrupted from asking his next question as his phone rang. He pulled it out and groaned when he looked at the screen, before he answered the call.

Owen took the opportunity to quickly duck away. If he was lucky, Hoskins would forget what he was asking about and leave him alone. Owen wasn't sure what to think about all of these questions. If Hoskins was involved with this new hybrid, maybe it was a good sign that he was interested and thinking about animal behaviour. Except… none of the other dinosaurs at Jurassic World were being trained like the raptors.

Sure, there were many animal behaviourists working at the park, but they weren't assessing intelligence and trying to run the dinosaurs through drills. They were primarily responsible for making sure the dinosaurs remained happy—suggesting changes to paddock design or recommending changes to guest access. He knew some developed enrichment activities for some of the more intelligent dinosaurs, but, really, many of the species were most happy when they were just left alone to graze. Most of the dinosaurs weren't anywhere near as intelligent as the raptors. In fact, many of the herbivores reminded him of cows.

Was Hoskins considering using the raptor style training methods for the hybrid? And if so, why? Owen thought the new hybrid was just supposed to be an attraction. Of course, maybe Owen was just overthinking this. Maybe Hoskins was finally just showing a vested interest in the raptors and the outcomes of the IBRIS project. It would be about time that he did.

o-o-o

Ever since Zach and Gray had visited, Claire had been trying to make an effort to actually answer the phone when her sister called. She wouldn't say she'd bonded with her nephews over the visit, but she did feel like she had a better understanding of who they were. Now, when Karen would tell her stories they felt a little more grounded in reality versus fictional accounts about people she didn't know.

Over their short visit, she had found out that Gray had already figured out that his parents were separating and that he'd told Zach. Being put on the spot with questions about it had been, by far, the worst part of their whole visit. And she'd been tempted to make up a work emergency just to get out of the conversation. It wasn't like she had any real experience with divorce. Her parents relationship had been rocky at times, but had never, at least that she knew of, veered into divorce territory. And she had even less knowledge about Karen and Scott's relationship. Claire had mostly just shrugged and waffled on answers, relying on platitudes. She _had_ had a furious text exchange with Karen that evening as she'd filled her in that the kids already knew.

Claire knew things were even rougher for Karen now. Scott had moved out of the house while the kids were visiting, and everyone was trying to adjust to their new reality. So far, it wasn't going all that well. Zach had become an even more surly teen, if that were possible. And Gray just seemed lost, struggling to deal with it all. As someone who thought (and overthought) everything herself, Claire had identified with Gray's reaction most of all. She knew how disorienting it could be to try to adjust to sudden drastic change.

The downside to their visit, however, was that they had met Owen. And apparently the one thing Gray talked about incessantly, was their visit to the raptors. The fact that they weren't supposed to talk about it, had meant that Gray, bursting to share his news, just kept repeating it to his parents. And that, no surprise, had piqued Karen's interest. "_Wait, this Owen guy that Gray keeps talking about… is this the one you went on the date with? Boardshorts Owen?_" She'd questioned Claire. "_And how come they're calling him your boyfriend? Did you go out again?_" Claire had tried to move Karen off the topic as quickly as possible, just saying that the boys had jumped to a conclusion, but that it _wasn't true_.

And it still wasn't true. Just because they were now fake-dating, it didn't mean that Claire was going to tell her _sister_ that. Karen didn't need to know, it wasn't like she was going to meet Owen or anything. And so, Claire was perfectly content on keeping that part of her life a secret from Karen.

Being (begrudgingly) more willing to answer her phone when Karen called, however, didn't make her any more eager to actually have the conversation. Claire would admit to relying on a lot of _hm's_ and _okay's_ to get through it, as she checked over emails or put away laundry or did any number of other tasks.

"_...and the boys are with Scott, so the only time we'd have is Sunday night, does that work?_"

Claire tuned back into the conversation when her sister fell silent, and she cursed softly. Dammit, she'd missed the question. "Sorry, what?" Claire winced, trying to come up with an excuse for her lack of attention.

"_Claire…_" Karen sighed.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Claire apologized, leaving the pile of clothes to be folded on her bed. She retreated back out into the main area of her condo, walking over to the floor to ceiling windows and staring down into the park. "You've got my attention. What were you asking?"

"_I said the boys are with Scott for the weekend, so the only time we could have a Skype call is Sunday night. Can you do that?_"

"Sunday?" Claire bit her lip. "I've actually got plans on Sunday."

"_Really?_" Karen's tone rose is disbelief. "_What are you doing Sunday night? Don't tell me you're working._"

"I'm _always_ working," Claire protested. "It's a valid excuse."

"_Not to skip a call with your nephews,_" Karen disagreed.

"Well, I'm not actually _working_ Sunday night," Claire said hesitantly, trying to figure a way out of the conversation. Why did Karen have to want to set up a call the _one time_ she actually had plans? She wished she was a better liar. Instead, she tried to go with the bare minimum of details. "I've got a dinner."

"_A_ date?" Karen asked hopefully.

Claire stared over at the Mosasaur lagoon as she debated her reply. It was and it wasn't a date; it was with _Owen_ after all. She'd arranged it to make sure they continued to have regular contact.

"_Well?_" Karen pried, when Claire failed to answer. "_What don't you want to tell me? Oh… OOOH! Don't tell me you're going on a date with Owen again! Are you? You are, aren't you. I knew it!_" The glee in Karen's voice immediately put Claire on edge.

"I'm not dating him," she insisted.

"_I didn't say dating,_" Karen immediately latched onto the word. "_I just said a date. Are you dating him? He's the one you're meeting for dinner, right? What's going on? What aren't you telling me?_"

"No. I mean, yes. But not the way you think…" Claire rubbed at her temple.

"_Wait, really? You're dating?_" Karen was stunned. "_Really?_"

"No," Claire shook her head, groaning. "Not dating."

"_But you're having dinner with him,_" Karen stated. "_But it's not a date._"

"Right."

"_Why?_" Now Karen just sounded confused.

"It's… complicated?" Claire replied, moving away from the window and collapsing onto her couch.

"_Complicated? How is a dinner complicated? Does that mean it's not work related?_"

"Well…"

"_C'mon Claire, for once you're life sounds exciting, let me live vicariously through you. What's going on?_"

"My life is always exciting," Claire objected.

"_No, your life is always work,_" Karen said matter-of-factly.

"I work with dinosaurs," Claire grumbled. She ran a theme park that often had over 20,000 daily visitors and boasted the only living dinosaurs on the planet. How was that _not_ exciting? "Most people would say that's exciting."

"_You work near dinosaurs,_" Karen corrected. "_Seriously Claire, what's up?_"

"It's just a dinner," Claire tried to dismiss it.

"_Yeah, not buying _that_,_" Karen said. "_No way it's 'just' a dinner. C'mon, tell me._" Claire just stayed silent. "_Please_," Karen started to beg. "_You know I'm not going to drop it._"

"We're sort of… _fakedating_," Claire finally admitted, the words rushing out as she hoped that Karen wouldn't quite catch it. That maybe somehow she could still just breeze by it all.

"_You're _what_?!_" Karen screeched. "_Did you just say _fake _dating? Who are you? What have you done with my sister? And, more importantly, _why_?_"

"It's a long story," Claire said. Leaning back, she propped her feet up on the coffee table, a hand coming to rest over her eyes. She knew there was no way out of the conversation now. Not until she'd spilled every detail. Even if she hung up, her phone would just ring endlessly until she dealt with this.

"_I've got time,_" Karen replied. Claire could hear Karen moving about her place, a cupboard door opening. "_In fact, if you give me three minutes, I'll have both time _and _popcorn._"

* * *

_**I wish I could share a gif here. Have you see the deer eating popcorn one? Look it up if you haven't. It was exactly what I pictured as I wrote the final line of this chapter. :) **_

_**Well, now Karen knows. And next chapter we get back to the control room and another of my favourite characters. :) **_

_**Any particular JW or FK characters you're hoping to see in this story? Human or dinosaur? :) As always, I'd love to hear anything you want to share, good or bad.**_


	10. Chapter 10

_Whoops. Almost forgot to post. Too busy writing. :) Lots of stuff coming... snapshots, The Missing Years, a one shot and more of this, of course!_

**Chapter 10**

Sunday evening and Owen found himself on Main Street. If there was one downside to this whole fake dating thing, it was the amount of time he was now spending in the main park. He wasn't a fan of hanging around all the visitors, finding it generally too crowded for his liking. But, it was also the only area on the island, outside of the employee cafeteria, to eat out. It wasn't that he didn't like cooking (he did), but it was nice to go out some nights and drink a beer and watch a game or play pool.

He'd originally suggested to Claire that she come out to his place for their Sunday meetup, but she'd insisted that they meet in the park. Something about how if the point was that others were supposed to _see_ them out in order to keep up their story, then they had to choose public places. There was some truth to her request, but after the week he'd had, he'd been hoping to escape the hustle and bustle of others and have a more relaxing evening. He also wasn't really sure how they were supposed to talk about confidential matters when surrounded by others.

Owen realized he should've expected that Claire would have a plan. That she would've thought all of this through. She did and she had.

She'd met him at the base of the Innovation Center and they'd chosen a restaurant together. He was a bit amazed she'd been willing to do so without a reservation. Actually, what surprised him even more about the evening, was that she didn't seem to be in a rush. They'd had a leisurely dinner, where they hadn't actually talked about the dinosaurs at all. Owen had tried to bring up Hoskins and indicate he had something he wanted to discuss, but Claire had just brushed the topic aside with "later." Confused, he'd followed her lead.

As he'd listened to her talk, there was a point where it sort of "clicked" that the dinner was really just a dinner and that she had a plan for them to talk after. He'd relaxed after that, and found himself getting caught up in the conversation. He listened as Claire gave him an update on her nephews, and he could tell that she had been taking an active interest in their lives. Owen was a little surprised just how easy it was to talk with Claire, when both of their defenses were down. Unlike their first date, when everything either one of them said seemed to set the other on edge, this time, with no expectations, he found them both relaxing and the laughter and conversation flowing.

After dinner, Claire suggested they go for a walk through the botanical gardens. He'd raised an eyebrow in surprise, but she'd just shrugged. "It's usually quite empty this time of night."

"Right, because it's dark," Owen reminded her.

"There's lights along the trails," Claire replied. "And I think it's prettier at night."

"How so?" Owen asked, following after her as they started walking towards it, choosing to skip the monorail.

"Well, like I said, it's a lot emptier at night," Claire started with. "And while it's not the right time of year now, in the early summer is the only time you can see the Dragon fruit cacti flower. They're a night flower."

"Were those around during the Jurassic era?"

"No. But they're pretty and grow well in this climate, so there are a few throughout the park."

"What else?" Owen reached out, and rested his hand on her back, guiding her as they weaved around a few groups of visitors.

"This one's going to sound a little stupid," Claire said. "But the way the lights are set up in some areas, the Christmas-style twinkly lights, it reminds me of chasing fireflies with my sister when I was little."

Once they passed the guests, Claire moved a bit farther from his side again, and as his hand drifted across her back, he slid it down her arm, grasping her hand lightly in his. She looked up at him in surprise and he just gave a slight head tilt towards the few employees who were watching them.

"Good memory?" Owen asked, bringing the conversation back to the topic.

"Yeah," Claire smiled, her gaze wistful. "One of my favourites. My sister's six years older than me. She didn't want to play with me a lot growing up, so the times she did…"

They walked in silence for a few minutes, passing a few more guests along the way. As they entered the gardens, Owen followed Claire's lead, as she seemed to know where she wanted to go along the paths.

He waited until they were out of sight of anyone else, before bringing up what he'd wanted to discuss. "So, Hoskins," he started. "He's been hanging around a _lot_ lately."

"What's he doing?" Claire asked, their pace slowing as they wandered the garden paths.

"I wasn't really sure, at first," Owen said. "But, the other day when he was here, he was asking me about my training methods. Why do I train the way I do. Why don't I use negative reinforcement. Stuff like that. And it got me thinking, and the common theme to all of his visits recently is how specific he's been about everything we do with the raptors. He's asked about how long I was able to stay in the cage with them. And their individual behaviours. All stuff that is, to some degree, in the reports I submit. Except, the reports are more 'this is what happened' and he seems to be more interested in the 'why.' 'Why this and not that?'"

"Do you think he's researching for the new hybrid?" Claire asked. "What you're doing with the raptors could be used on a different dinosaur, right?"

"Yes and no," Owen admitted slowly. "I mean, there are general trainer philosophies and such. The bigger ideas, like how to use positive or negative reinforcement. Those sorts of things, of course, are transferable. But the more specifics… that's not so easy to say. A lot of what I choose to do is based on how the raptors have responded to earlier training. It's based on their personalities and their intelligence. I couldn't walk up to a _Triceratops_ and repeat what I've done and get the same results."

"Do you think–?" Claire started, before cutting herself off. "No, couldn't be."

"What?" Owen stopped on the trail, turning to face her.

"It's nothing," Claire tried to dismiss it. "This isn't an area I know about, anyway."

"No, tell me," Owen insisted.

"It's just… well, we think Hoskins knows what the hybrid is being made of, right?" Claire confirmed and Owen nodded. "Well, maybe he has reason to believe that it _will_ be useful."

"You're thinking that it might be… part raptor?" Owen said. He hated that he was finding himself agreeing with her. That it felt like some pieces may be clicking into place.

"It could be he just doesn't know," Claire tried to backtrack. "He may just think it's all interchangeable."

"Yeah," Owen agreed. "And, to be honest, normally I'd say he's dumb enough for that. But, well, we think he's working with Wu. And probably others. Even if _he_ was too stupid, some of his comments… I think he's probably being coached on what to ask. I find it hard to believe he's really been reading studies on training methodologies."

"Part raptor," Claire breathed out slowly, and Owen took the opportunity to start walking along the trail again, Claire falling into step beside him. They walked for a bit before Claire spoke up again. "Do you think the Indominus?" Owen looked over, but she was already shaking her head. "No, that doesn't make sense. The thing was gigantic. It looked much more like a T. rex."

"Doesn't mean there wasn't any," Owen reminded her. "But, that thing really didn't look like any dinosaur. I mean, sure, the T. rex is closest, but that's mostly because of size and also being a theropod."

"I still haven't been able to get any more information on it," Claire said, frustration creeping into her voice. "I don't get why they're still hiding it all."

Owen wasn't sure what to say. He didn't understand any of the politics between the lab and people like Claire and Masrani or even InGen. He knew everyone was technically under the Masrani Global umbrella, but who worked for what and how information was shared had always seemed overly complicated to him. And as it was not something he really needed to actually know or understand, he preferred to just ignore it and stay in his own bubble.

"You know," Claire's voice interrupted Owen's thoughts, and he looked over, surprised by the determined look on her face. "I've been playing by the rules so far. But, I think I might know a way to find out."

"You know how to break rules?" Owen gasped in mock surprise, letting go of her hand and dodging away from her. He was about to tease her some more, but his gaze landed on the lights hidden in the trees around them. He spun slowly in a circle, taking in the small clearing they had stopped in. When he was facing Claire again, he nodded and simply said, "Fireflies. Yeah, I see it."

o-o-o

The following morning Claire started her day off as usual, by heading down to the control room after her check in with Zara. This time, though, she had an extra goal for her visit. She'd meant what she'd said to Owen the previous night, it was time to think about pushing the boundaries and maybe breaking (or at least bending) a few of the rules. If they didn't want to offer up the information, then she was going to do what she did best, and use the resources available to her.

Mondays were always the quietest day at Jurassic World, with many guests generally booking travel that had them heading home on Sunday, so they'd be back in time for the work and school week. While there was constant changeover everyday, there was always a bit of a lull on Mondays, and the whole park staff usually breathed a little easier, knowing they'd have a bit more time to catch up on everything from the hectic weekend.

The control room was no exception, the atmosphere much more relaxed and casual. As Claire worked on the weekends, she already knew how the previous days had gone, so there usually wasn't a lot of new information during her Monday round. Today was no different.

After having her regular check in conversation with Lowery and Vivian, she waited until just the right moment, distracting Vivian will a question about something on the screen, to slip a piece of paper to Lowery.

She wasn't even facing him, but she could tell the immediate change in his posture, and she quietly lifted a hand, gesturing for him to stay quiet. Thankfully, he seemed to get the message. Finishing up with Vivian, she turned to him, and she could see the piece of paper was sitting under his cup, mostly tucked out of sight. His gaze darted between the paper and her a few times, before he slightly raised his shoulders in question.

"Lowery, on the weekend they were having some trouble with a few of the gyrospheres. I know they took them temporarily out of circulation. Can you get me an update on their status? How long before we can get them back into rotation?"

Lowery looked a little surprised by her question, obviously expecting her to say something about the paper she'd passed him. "Sure thing," Lowery said slowly, his confusion apparent.

"I've got a lot of site visits today, so I might not make it back after lunch. If you could just send me a quick email when you find out?" Claire asked, and this time, she looked specifically at the note, hoping he'd pick up on what she wanted.

"Okay," Lowery nodded. He pulled his drink closer to him, sliding the paper over with it. "I'll get back to you as soon as I can."

"Thanks," Claire smiled at him gratefully. She knew he always liked the idea of conspiracies, even if Lowery didn't actually believe in them. She imagined he'd be fascinated by her request to dig into the Indominus files and see what he could find out.

Lowery's job didn't require someone with a particularly computer savvy background. But he kept his fingers on the pulse of the company, always in the know about the latest gossip, and always seemingly more connected than she could imagine. He seemed to be one of those people who others just trusted, and as he was quick to do favours for people, they all seemed to owe him something in return. Claire was hoping he'd be able to use a few of those for her and that he'd want to. She had a feeling the whole idea would intrigue him enough that he would.

o-o-o

Owen was getting used to looking up from his training to find Hoskins strutting around the paddock. But today, he was surprised when the footsteps he could hear climbing the paddock stairs sounded different. The gait was more measured, not what he was used to', and there was a bit more of a light metal clang to each step, not the heavy footfalls he associated with Hoskins, or really any of the people working at the paddock.

However, he was still in the middle of a staring contest with Blue, and so he couldn't risk looking away to see who had arrived. Whoever it was, they stopped at the top of the stairs and at least had the insight not to interrupt him.

"Come on, Blue," Owen said, staring at the raptor while he held the rat up high. He could see Blue's gaze darting between the rat and him and he knew she was debating if the task he'd asked for was worth the treat. "I said _back up_," Owen commanded her again, shaking the rat slightly. Blue growled, but didn't move.

Charlie was hovering just to Blue's left, and at Owen's command took a few steps backwards before looking up at him in a way that Owen interpreted as hopeful, her own gaze on the rat.

"This isn't for you, Charlie," Owen admonished, and Charlie let out a whine, backing up a few more steps. "Blue, are you watching your sister?" Owen said. "If you don't _back up_ I may actually give it to her."

Blue's gaze darted briefly towards Charlie and she let out a snarl, before returning her focus to Owen.

"Okay, this is your last chance," Owen said, standing up straighter. He clicked the clicker he held and commanded again. "Back up!"

Again, Blue didn't move, her stance lowering and becoming more defensive. Owen held her gaze for another few seconds, before sighing and turning towards Charlie, who had, again, backed up a few more steps.

"Here, Charlie," Owen tossed the rat at the raptor, and he watched, amused, as Blue tried desperately to leap for it, but was knocked out of the way by Charlie jumping from behind, having predicted Blue's action. Charlie gobbled the rat down in a single bite, not daring to hesitate as Blue immediately charged towards her. "That's what happens when you don't want to listen," Owen shrugged, when Blue looked up at him and whined. "Think about your actions. We'll try again later."

He slipped the clicker into a pocket on his vest before wiping his hands on a rag he had tucked into his back pocket. Finally remembering the arrival of a visitor, he turned, surprised to find Claire waiting for him.

"Hey, this is a nice surprise," Owen said, walking towards her. He used the few steps between them to give her a quick look over. While he did (really) appreciate the casual look she'd had on a few occasions, her boss look still got to him. The way she exuded control and confidence, with everything always looking perfectly in place, from the razor sharp cut of her hair to the lack of scuff marks on her shoes. It was a look that both pulled him in while also making him feel out of his league. He looked down at his hands, rubbing at them a bit harder with the rag, but knowing he wasn't going to really be able to get them clean, not until he had a chance to use the sink. He shoved the rag into his back pocket

"You really weren't kidding when you said they only sometimes follow your orders," Claire said, looking past him into the paddock where Blue was angrily pacing back and forth.

"Blue's just being stubborn," Owen said, following Claire's gaze. "I'll give her a short break and we'll try again." He looked back at Claire. "What's up?"

"I had a break in my schedule," Claire said, averting her eyes from him and Owen's curiosity was sparked. "I've been visiting a bunch of paddocks this week and was near, so thought I'd stop by."

"Yeah?" Owen said. "Have you heard anything from Lowery yet?"

"Not yet," Claire sighed. "But, his email on Monday did say he thought it'd take a few days." She took a step forward, closer to the paddock railing. Owen followed her, resting his hands on the railing as he looked down into the now empty area, Blue having disappeared into the jungle cover. "Does it ever sort of creep you out how they can just disappear so completely?"

"I'm used to it," Owen said with a chuckle. "But, yeah, the first couple of weeks after we transferred them out here were interesting, to say the least. They were also a lot smaller. One moment you could hear them crashing through the jungle and the next… silence. It was a bit unnerving at first. We'd end up calling for them to come out, just wanting to confirm they were still here. Still _alive_. However, we let them be more now. It's good for them to have downtime. And to have time where they don't feel like they're always under a microscope."

"Yeah, that sounds nice," Claire said, wistfulness creeping into her tone.

"Bad day?" Owen asked, a bit curious.

"Regular day," Claire shrugged. Her phone beeped and she pulled it out and read a message, letting out another sigh. "I've got to get going." She turned towards the stairs, and Owen followed, walking down the steps beside her.

"You know," Owen said, as they headed over to her car. "You should come by my place later. Spend some time in the hammock and just decompress for a bit."

"Your place?" Claire asked, pausing by her car. "That's not so public. Doesn't really help us out."

He glanced around, confirming no one was in hearing distance, but dropped his voice a bit lower anyway. "It doesn't all have to be for show," Owen shrugged. "Besides, people apparently saw your car at my place last time. It'll still get around. It wouldn't be a bad thing for people to see that. It's been over a month. We probably should be stepping it up a bit."

"Stepping it up?" Claire looked a little tentative at the idea.

"While these visits are good and all," Owen explained, "It's a little weird that our dating only ever seems to be in public."

"Well, we're not _actually_ dating," Claire said, her own voice a whisper.

"I know that," Owen groaned. "But if we want others to believe… Anyway, just think about it. Might be good to add some variety. To change things up a bit. Not just meet up because your calendar tells you to." Claire's gaze shot to her phone at the comment, and Owen burst out laughing. "Seriously? You've got us scheduled?"

"I'm organized," Claire defended herself weakly. "I told you that my schedule's packed. I wanted to make sure I actually had time for this."

"Well, thanks, I guess," Owen said, still laughing. He pulled her car door open and watched as Claire climbed in. Ducking down, he said, "I wasn't kidding about the hammock. Think about it." Claire looked at him and nodded slowly. Deciding to take his own advice on stepping it up, Owen dropped a quick kiss on her lips before she had a chance to realize what was happening. Standing back up, he grinned down at her, and said loudly, for anyone around, "See you tonight." Shutting the door, he watched as Claire shook her head at him, trying to look mad, but the smile playing across her lips told him otherwise. He stood there watching as she drove off, waiting until she was out of sight before turning back to the paddock. Time to go and try to deal with Blue again.

o-o-o

Considering Lowery's first email to Claire had mainly consisted of an update on the status of the broken gyrospheres with an extra line at the bottom that said "your other request will take a few days," she probably shouldn't have been surprised when the latest one just said "I've got something." She checked the email for an attachment, but there was nothing there. Glancing at her schedule she realized she'd have to wait until she made it to the control room after lunch to ask Lowery for more information.

Of course, the anticipation meant the morning seemed to last forever. Meetings and work she'd normally find engaging and rewarding just felt like a waste of time. It all felt like it was just designed to keep her away from the control room and away from the information. She really hoped that Lowery wasn't going to disappoint.

By the time she made it to the control room, she was ready to throw her phone out the window. She'd made the mistake of texting Owen that Lowery had an update. She thought he probably wouldn't see the message until lunch (at the earliest), but most likely the end of the day. However, apparently whatever he was up to that day had him in and out of his office, as he had been sending her texts asking if she had talked to Lowery yet every half hour or so, even though she'd told him she wouldn't find out until after lunch.

As the elevator doors opened into the control room, Claire saw Lowery glance over at her, before turning back to his desk and fiddling with the couple of books he had propped up. She decided to approach her visit as normal, moving over to stand between him and Vivian, asking for an update.

She watched as Lowery pulled out one of the books and was about to ask him what was going on, when she saw him slide an envelope out of it. She hid her grin over all the cloak and dagger actions that she and Lowery were apparently now engaging in. Turning towards Vivian, Claire asked for a few more details about why the ACU and vet team were out in the Gyrosphere valley. As Vivian answered — a _Stegosaurus_ needed some dental work — Claire set her phone on the small desk space. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Lowery slip the envelope under her phone.

Claire rushed through the rest of her visit, eager to read whatever Lowery had slipped her. She confirmed that the ACU and vet visit wasn't impacting the gyrosphere experience and got an update on the number of kids in lost-and-found (she never understood how so many parents managed to lose their kids each day). Scooping up her phone and grabbing the envelope with it, she left the control room with her usual reminder for them to contact her if anything happened and that she'd be back at the end of the day.

The moment the elevator doors closed, she tore into the envelope, pulling out the contents. There was a sticky note on the top that just said "you owe me" in Lowery's chicken scratch. Claire pulled it off, crumpling it into a little ball, as she separated the pages beneath, surprised and a little disappointed to realize there were only two. She had been hoping for a treasure trove of information. Two pages felt very anti-climatic. However, as she skimmed them, she realized that it wasn't about the quantity.

The first page was a breakdown of the Indominus' DNA. While the Indominus was definitely based on the T. rex (95.7%), it was the remaining 4.3% that was interesting. There was a list of eight different species. The first few she recognized, as they were sort of the Jurassic World "go to" species for filling in the breaks in the DNA. However cuttlefish and tree frogs were both new, and there was something about frogs that had her pause briefly, sure there was a previous connection her brain was trying to make. However, it was the line "_Velociraptor _— 2.4%" that made her breath catch. Raptor? Why would they have been using raptor?

Flipping to the second page, she saw it provided the reasoning behind the various species. The cuttlefish genes had been used to allow for an accelerated growth rate. The tree frog genes to help it adapt to a tropical climate. And the raptor genes were used to help augment the T. rex predator features. Claire shuddered briefly. She didn't understand why anyone would want an animal to be more fierce than the T. rex. Sure, she got it from a business standpoint. But, in her opinion, the T. rex was plenty scary, and if the goal was to remind people how small they were, you didn't need a creature that would be happy to eat you to do so. The sheer size of the Apatosaurus and Brachiosaurus always made her feel small.

As the elevator doors opened on her floor, Claire stuffed the pages back into the envelope. Walking down the hall to her office, she knew she needed to send Owen a message. Even though they had already started to speculate that raptor DNA might be involved in the new hybrid, she knew he was not going to be happy. She debated what to say, writing and rewriting her text a few times. She decided not to send the details, since it would be easier to have the conversation in person than attempt it over text. She finally settled on: **Lowery got the breakdown. I'll show you tonight.**

* * *

_So... thoughts? Questions? Anything? All feedback is welcomed and greatly appreciated._


	11. Chapter 11

_Okay, I need to take a moment, because I haven't been doing this nearly enough, to thank **EliseCollier** and **Nadin** for all their help with this fic. From brainstorming to editing to planning to moral support and more. The story is what it is because of them. And if you haven't read their works, you're really missing out._

**Chapter 11**

Owen just groaned under his breath when he heard Hoskins walking across the catwalk towards him. He had been hoping to get back to his office so he could see if Claire had sent an update on what she'd learned from Lowery, since it was now after lunch.

He'd seen Hoskins arrive just before he'd started his training session and was happy that Hoskins had at least held off his approach until Owen had finished. While the session hadn't been perfect, the raptors had been in a playful mood and had mostly listened to him. Days like this helped make up for the bad days.

"What's up?" Owen turned to Hoskins, noting the man's look of surprise. Did he really think that he was that sneaky? Or that Owen was that unobservant?

"They seemed to be in a good mood today," Hoskins said, bracing his hands on the railing and looking down into the paddock. Not that there was much to see, the raptors having disappeared into the jungle after Owen finished.

"Yeah, it was definitely one of our better days," Owen nodded. "It's always kind of fun when they're playful like this."

"That was playful?" Hoskins turned to look at him.

"Raptor playful, yeah," Owen said. "Sometimes they act like the three year olds they are. Wanting to show off, but also not wanting their siblings to get any special treatment. They can be little shits. It was much cuter when they were smaller." On the particularly bad days, when Owen was ready to throw in the towel on the whole project, he'd taken to rewatching some of the videos he'd made back when the raptors were young. A reminder that there were good times and a reminder of how much progress they had made.

"Aren't they fully grown now? Are you saying they're still like little kids?"

"Don't you read any of my reports?" Owen asked. Why was he spending all this time on reports if no one was ever looking at them? He could think of much better uses for his time.

"I do," Hoskins stated. "But I can't ask reports questions. Are they going to get bigger?"

"We think they've probably reached their full height," Owen looked down, scanning the edge of the jungle, wondering if any of the raptors were looking back. Occasionally he was able to pick them out when they did, but not often. They were excellent hiders. "At least, that's based on the knowledge we have from the first Jurassic Park and the ones that were recovered from Sorna." Not having a lot of definitive knowledge had made Owen's job harder. While he had been pushing boundaries on training dolphins when he was in the Navy, dolphins had at least been well studied for decades. There was a lot they already knew about them. Even though the first raptors had been brought back over 20 years ago, they still had very little knowledge on them as a whole. Owen's research had already increased it more than five fold. "It's still an open question on when they reach full maturity."

"How do you not know that? I thought the Jurassic Park ones started breeding. How old were they?"

"They did, and so did the ones on Sorna," Owen nodded. "But these girls aren't quite the same. First of all, not letting the animals breed was one of the conditions for Jurassic World. I know they had to change some of the genetic makeup to deal with that. Besides that, the goal when creating these ones was different than at Jurassic Park. These ones were bred specifically to be research subjects that would be working with humans. I know Wu tried out a few different combinations, to try to make them a bit more tame than before."

"Tame? These guys?" Hoskins looked back down into the paddock, disbelief evident in his voice.

"They're definitely not tame," Owen agreed, suppressing an eye roll. "As I've never had any actual encounters with the raptors from Sorna or Jurassic Park, all I know is what I've read from Malcolm's book and the research notes from Dr. Grant and the original Jurassic Park workers. But there are a lot of differences. And one of the big ones, is that those raptors had very little human interaction. I've been interacting with the girls from the moment they were born. At Jurassic Park, they tried to avoid that, wanting the dinosaurs to be 'natural' and 'wild.' Because of that, one of the results, from what I've read, was that the raptors viewed humans as a threat from the start. They never hesitated before attacking."

In preparation for his job, Owen had been given access to all the research and notes and data and anything else Jurassic World had about the original raptors. It hadn't amounted to all that much. A lot of research had been destroyed after Jurassic Park had initially been evacuated and before crews were, inevitably, sent back to rescue what they could. He'd wanted to reach out to Doctors Grant, Sattler and Brennan, among many others but, because of the confidential nature of IBRIS, he had not been authorized to do so.

"And these ones?" Hoskins turned to him again. "Do you think they'd think twice?"

"Yeah," Owen nodded. "I think so. I mean, they hesitated when that kid fell in." Which was an incident that Owen _still_ couldn't quite comprehend. "But, they're not tame. Not even close. Even then, they did choose to attack. It's only because they hesitated that I'm still here." Owen turned to look at Hoskins, his eyes narrowing. "What's with all these questions?"

"I'm not allowed to ask?" Hoskins innocent tone made Owen want to laugh, but instead he settled for rolling his eyes.

"You know you are," Owen rested his hands on his hips. "You've never cared before. What's changed?"

"Your results are finally getting interesting," Hoskins tried to evade the question.

"The results have _always_ been interesting," Owen replied. He meant it, too. When you start a project with as little information as he had, everything that happens provides so much data. He enjoyed trying to put the pieces together to create new insights and test out new hypotheses.

"They weren't close to being ready for a field test before," Hoskins shrugged.

"And they still aren't," Owen shot back. Since when had Hoskins changed his mind on this? He had bugged Owen for weeks after the tech had fallen in. "I just said they're not tame. Are you even listening? We can't release them _anywhere_. Especially _not_ if you ever want to put them back in here."

"They listen to you, you've shown that," Hoskins stated. "Didn't one of your reports say that you're essentially their parent? Or what's the term you used? _Alpha_?"

"The alpha, as in the leader of the pack. But that was more true when I was in the cage with them. Now, I'm more like a guardian than a parent," Owen said. "An authority figure, for sure. But they know I'm not the same as them. Blue's always been the dominant one of the group. What she says, goes. And that's just becoming more true as they get older."

"So they don't need a parent…" Hoskins said so softly Owen almost didn't hear him.

"What?" Owen was confused. Why would Hoskins be wondering about a parent? "Research of some of the nesting sites that have been found for dinosaurs have suggested that many dinosaur species raised their young. They don't abandon them upon birth, like some lizards do. They were much more like mammals or birds."

"So you're saying their behaviour is a result of nurture over nature? Would they be a lot different without you? Or with a raptor parent?" Hoskins asked.

"Nature vs nurture — the age old question," Owen laughed. This was an area he'd spent a lot of time thinking about. Not that he could come to any conclusions. "Hard to say, since we don't have a control batch and there are so many variables at play. But, because they're being raised in a pack, they aren't just learning from me. They talk to each other. If you watch them, it's very clear they have actual conversations. And they spend all their time together versus just a few hours a day with me. They're biggest influencers will always be their packmates. And that's important. They need that. Developing social skills and belonging to a community is essential. They're social creatures. Just like humans."

o-o-o

Claire had continued to get bombarded with texts from Owen all afternoon, even after she told him (repeatedly) that she'd see him later. She was wondering what had happened to the Owen who never checked his phone and often took over 24 hours to respond. He trained raptors. Shouldn't he be able to be patient?

She did feel a little bad that she wasn't able to make it to his place until after 8. It wasn't her fault that her schedule was full. It always was. When she finally did pull into his lot, she found him as she had last time she'd visited — lying in his hammock drinking a beer.

"Got any more?" Claire asked, gesturing to the beer as she approached.

"Sure," Owen said, climbing out of the hammock and heading towards his "bungalow." He paused a couple of steps away, turning back to her, his eyes narrowed in suspicion, "And don't think about stealing the hammock this time."

"Who me?" Claire batted her eyelashes.

Owen laughed, pointing at her, "I know you're not innocent, _Ms. Dearing_."

Claire waited until he had entered his trailer before she _did_ climb into the hammock. Hey, he'd told her that she should come over and use it to decompress. She was just taking his advice.

She heard him groan when he exited his trailer, but she watched as he just grabbed a lawn chair and pulled it over, settling onto it with his feet resting on the hammock, just like before. Claire had been holding onto the envelope from Lowery and she took the opportunity to toss it over to him, watching as he practically ripped the pages out in his haste, his eyes skimming them over quickly once, before he slowed down and read the two pages carefully.

"Raptors?" Owen growled as he finished reading. He swung his feet down, leaping up from his chair. "They used _raptor_ DNA? What the hell, Claire?" He started pacing back and forth beside the hammock, and Claire just watched him silently, unsure what to say. She still wasn't sure what to think about it herself. She could hear him muttering something, but she couldn't make out his words. After a few minutes of frantic pacing, he finally slowed, eventually collapsing back into his chair. Claire remained silent, waiting to see what he'd say next. "How did they not realize how bad of an idea that was?" He took a long pull from his beer, and Claire continued to wait him out. Just when she thought that maybe she _should_ say something, he bolted upright in his seat. "Fuck, Claire. They haven't learned, have they? They're still using raptor DNA in whatever they're creating now."

"We don't know that for sure," Claire reminded him.

Owen didn't appear to have heard her. "That would be just like Hoskins. He's not getting what he wants out of IBRIS. At least not fast enough. Combine him and Wu's ego… they probably think they can create the perfect trainable, military dinosaur."

"Wu's creating a dinosaur to be a Jurassic World attraction, not a… a soldier," Claire protested. "What's the benefit for Jurassic World to have a fierce dinosaur weapon?"

"The benefit is not for Jurassic World," Owen agreed. "But the possible monetary benefit for Wu or Hoskins? That's huge. Think about it, Jurassic World and InGen eat all the costs on the R&D. If Wu or Hoskins could get one out of here…"

"We track all the dinosaurs," Claire reminded him. "We'd know if one ever left the island. Trust me, these are our most valuable assets. We get updates on their locations at least twice a minute. We're tracking them even when they're still in eggs and can't move. Without them Jurassic World doesn't exist."

"Yeah, maybe." Owen deflated at her words, sinking back into his chair, swallowing the rest of his beer. "I still wouldn't put it past them. There's probably a way. We need to know what's in the new hybrid."

"I'm still working on that," Claire said. "Once the eggs are incubating, they'll no longer be able to push it aside as still being 'up in the air.'" She shifted in the hammock, trying to get it to rock slightly.

"What are you doing?" Owen asked, brow furrowed.

"Trying to get it to sway a bit," Claire said, continuing to squirm.

"Here," Owen propped his feet back up on the hammock, using them to gently rock it.

"Thanks."

They hung out mostly in silence. Claire trying to actually decompress after her day, although her mind was mostly whirling over Owen's suggestion that Hoskins and Wu might be trying to sneak animals off the island.

When she started yawning about an hour later, she decided she'd better get home before she ended up asleep in the hammock. While it didn't sound like a bad idea right now, she knew she'd regret in the morning.

"What are you doing?" Owen asked, sitting up in his chair as Claire scrambled out of the hammock.

"I gotta get home," Claire said.

"We're supposed to be stepping it up, remember?" Owen replied, following after her towards her car.

"Yeah, well," she risked a glance towards his trailer. "No offense, but…"

"Offense taken," Owen said, but his grin told Claire otherwise. "You could have my bed."

"I didn't bring anything with me," she said. "Besides, where would you sleep? Do you have a couch?"

"Um, no," he hesitated. "At least not one I can stretch out on. I guess I could probably sleep in the hammock."

"Somehow, I think we'd both regret that in the morning," Claire laughed.

"What about your place?"

"What about my place?" Claire paused, standing with her car door open.

"We should probably appear to be spending the night. If my place is out, what about yours? Do you have a guest bed?"

"No," Claire shook her head. "There's no point when the rest of the hotel is right there. I do have a couch."

"Big one?"

"Big enough," Claire nodded.

"Great, how about Friday? Date night and a sleepover?" Owen waggled his eyebrows at her.

Claire groaned, before nodding her okay.

o-o-o

For the first time ever, Owen was annoyed that Hoskins wasn't around. Everytime he heard a car or heavy footsteps on the metal paddocks stairs, he would look over hoping to see him. It was an odd and frustrating feeling, made worse because he knew it was impacting his job, as every time he got distracted in the middle of giving a command the raptors took advantage of the opportunity, rushing off into the jungle or swapping places or just losing focus.

It was probably fitting that when Hoskins finally _did _arrive back at the paddock, a few days after Claire had shown him the Indominus results, Owen was tucked away in his office and didn't notice immediately. It wasn't until he'd finished the report he was pecking away at, finally freeing himself to go back out to the paddock to attempt a second training session for the day, that Owen discovered Hoskins was there. Hoskins was leaning against the gated holding pen, chatting with Barry, who was inside checking over Delta strapped in her harness.

Owen tried to remain calm. Tried to rein in his emotions, but the sight of Hoskins, so close to his raptors, made his blood boil. Forgetting his training plan, Owen stormed across the lot towards the pen. "What are you doing here, Hoskins?" he asked, his voice dripping with venom, as he neared.

Hoskins turned around, obviously surprised by Owen's tone. "Owen, just the person I was looking for."

"Why? What are you trying to do now? Huh? Are you working with Wu? Are you building another hybrid? What are you doing?" The questions poured out, Owen's voice getting louder and louder with each one. He moved closer to Hoskins, backing him into the gate. "Did you know? Did you?"

Hoskins raised his hands in defense, annoyance flashing in eyes. "What are you talking about?"

Out of the corner of his eye, Owen could see Barry moving over towards them, while Delta started snarling in her harness, trying to get free. "Part raptor, Hoskins? That the Indominus was part raptor? Did you know? Were you involved in it?"

"How do you know that?" Hoskins was clearly unsettled by Owen's knowledge, his gaze darting about the area, looking for an escape or a saviour, Owen wasn't sure.

"So you _did _know," Owen stated. He shook his head in disbelief. "I don't get it. How do you not understand how _crazy_ that is? How bad of an idea? As if the T. rex isn't deadly enough. Really? You needed to make something _worse_?"

"What are you talking about?" Barry asked, interrupting the two, although he was still inside the gated pen, so he couldn't actually get between them.

"The Indominus," Owen spat out the name, "was part raptor." Owen was distracted from Barry's surprised exclamation by the increased snarling sounds of the raptors behind Barry. Blue, Echo and Charlie had come over to see what was going on, having heard Delta's snarls (and likely Owen's shouts). Looking at them, a new horrifying thought hit Owen. Turning back to Hoskins, he grabbed Hoskin's shirt in a fist, pulling the older man closer to him. "Tell me you didn't."

"Didn't do what?" Hoskins said, trying to loosen Owen's grip.

"What raptor DNA did they use?" Owen looked passed Hoskins to the raptors, Barry's attention also turning to them too.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Hoskins insisted.

"Bullshit," Owen growled. "You knew. You've probably got your fingers all over this. No wonder you wanted to know what happened that day. Not happy with the results here, are you? Trying to find some other ways around it all."

"Now you listen." Hoskins used his size to stand up straighter, finally managing to pull back from Owen a bit, although with the gate behind him he couldn't actually move anywhere. "You think this is InGen's only concern?" Hoskins waved about, gesturing to the paddock around them. "You don't know a single thing about what you're talking about."

"So tell me," Owen said, his voice low. "Fill me in."

"That's above your paygrade," Hoskins replied, regaining his confidence. "Just because you're fucking Claire Dearing now, doesn't mean you ge-"

Hoskins never got a chance to finish what he was going to say, as Owen's fist connected solidly with his jaw. Owen wasn't sure how Barry managed it, but barely a moment later, Barry was pushing Owen away from Hoskins, getting in between the two men, the sounds of growls and snarls from the raptors increasing, as they fed off the negatively charged atmosphere.

"Owen, calm down," Barry said, the words barely penetrating the haze of anger that still wrapped itself around Owen. "He's not worth it."

"I'll fire you," Hoskins was threatening from behind Barry. "Don't think I won't."

"Don't listen to him," Barry said, pushing harder against Owen, getting him to backup a few more steps. "You need to calm down. Delta's going to injure herself."

"What?" Barry's words finally penetrated and Owen looked passed him to see Delta thrashing in her harness, the other raptors clawing at the gate.

"They're not going to calm down when you're this agitated. You need to calm down," Barry repeated.

"Right," Owen said, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly. "Right." He looked over Barry's shoulder at Hoskins, who was rubbing his jaw, a scowl on his face. Turning his attention back to Barry, Owen said, "Can you get rid of him? I'll deal with Delta."

"Yeah," Barry nodded.

As Owen moved towards the gate, he noticed that Barry stayed between him and Hoskins until he'd gone through and closed it behind him. Taking a couple more deep breaths, Owen tried to calm his racing heart. Barry was right. The raptors wouldn't relax while he was this worked up, and Delta was liable to injure herself. He needed to get himself under control.

o-o-o

The week dragged on and by Friday Claire had had it. When Owen texted her to ask where they should meet up for dinner, Claire asked if they could just eat in instead. The idea of having to be out and about with employees staring at them was just too much. Not after the week she'd had. Not after the new round of rumours and gossip that had spread like wildfire after Owen had punched Hoskins. She still wasn't sure what she really thought about it all. Owen had refused to explain exactly what happened, just saying that he'd confronted Hoskins about the Indominus and Claire wasn't sure how much to believe of the gossip. She thought she was probably better off not knowing.

Tonight, she just wanted to be sitting on her couch, wearing sweatpants and eating ice cream. Since they were supposed to end up back at her place anyway for a "sleepover," she was pretty sure that Owen wouldn't be against the idea of just moving up the timetable.

She was right. He simply wrote back **Pizza?** and she agreed, suggesting the Spicy Soppressata and the Arugula. Owen texted back a thumbs up, saying he'd grab it and meet her at her place.

By the time he'd arrived, Claire had changed out of her work clothes into an old baggy t-shirt and sweatpants. At his knock, she hurried to the door, opening it wide to let him in. He had a pizza box balanced on one hand, and a bag hanging heavily from his other.

"What'd you bring?" Claire asked, watching as Owen paused in the entryway, his gaze sweeping over her condo, before finally landing back on her.

"Whoa!" Owen exclaimed, taking a half step back.

"What?" Claire pulled self-consciously on her t-shirt. Maybe she should've stayed dressed up. They were supposed to be on a (fake) date after all.

"Just… I'm surprised you own something that… ratty," Owen chuckled.

Claire wrapped her arms across her chest defensively, "It was a long week." She looked down at her outfit, then over at Owen. He wasn't dressed up, exactly, but it was clear he'd put on a clean pair of jeans and button up shirt, having expected to be eating out. "I can go change."

"No, no, no. No need," Owen shook his head. "We're just going to sit on the couch and eat pizza. Might as well be comfortable." He passed over the pizza box, toeing off his shoes before he followed Claire over to the couch.

She put the box down on the coffee table, before turning to ask. "I've got wine, beer, soda, water…?"

"What are you having?" Owen asked.

"I just opened a bottle of red," Claire admitted.

"Sounds good," he nodded.

She hurried into the kitchen area, pulling down a second wine glass, and grabbing the bottle of wine. She brought them out, only to stop a couple feet short of the couch, looking at Owen who was crouched over at her TV.

"What are you doing?"

"I brought my Xbox," Owen said, glancing over his shoulder at her.

"Why'd you bring that?"

"I didn't want to be bored," Owen replied. Claire looked at him in surprise, but he wasn't facing her, still connecting wires.

She took a moment to grab plates and napkins, before settling on the couch. She wasn't sure how to interpret his action. He was the one who suggested he spend the night at her place. Without meaning to, she blurted out, "You think I'm boring?"

Owen stood up, grabbing one of the controllers he'd brought and settled onto the couch next to her. "No," he disagreed, clicking through the menus. "I just didn't know what you'd have to do here. I mean, I assumed you had a TV but there's no game on tonight."

Claire pulled opened the pizza box, and saw that he had got a large pizza, half and half of what she'd suggested. She pulled out a slice as she contemplated his answer. "There's always movies. I've got Netflix."

"Netflix and chill?" Owen laughed. "I mean… if you're open to it?" He raised his eyebrows suggestively, leaning closer to her. Claire just pushed him away, grabbing the other controller off the coffee table.

"What are we playing?" She turned to look at him when there wasn't an immediate reply, to see that his jaw had dropped and he was staring at her in awe. "What? You didn't expect me to play? I mean… most of my experience is with Nintendo, but I'll have you know that I was an excellent _Mario Kart_ player. And pretty good at _Goldeneye_."

"You never cease to amaze me," Owen said after a moment, grabbing a slice of pizza and taking a big bite. "I kind of wish I'd brought my WiiU now."

o-o-o

Owen was still amazed that Claire, _Claire Dearing_, had sat on a couch and played Xbox with him for the last few hours, while eating pizza. Sure, they were drinking red wine instead of beer, and she'd brought out ice cream when they'd finished the pizza. But, it was still shocking. Even when he'd initially asked her out on a date he'd never foreseen an evening like this happening. Movie nights? Sure, he could picture that. But not _game_ nights. She seemed too… uptight for that. He'd actually brought his Xbox because he'd thought he'd need something to do while Claire worked. He was starting to realize, now that he was spending more time with her, that he'd made a lot of assumptions about her that were, well, just plain wrong. "Never judge a book by its cover," was an old adage his mom used to say. Claire was definitely proving it right.

However, while her couch had been comfortable for their gaming marathon, he was finding it a tad short now that he was stretched out on it, trying to fall asleep. It wasn't that his feet were hanging over the edge (thankfully), but it was almost more annoying being just a few inches too short. Owen was shifting around, trying to find a position that didn't require him to curl up, but also didn't have his feet digging into the arm rest. So far, he wasn't having any luck.

"Would you stop fidgeting? I can hear you from in here." Claire's voice echoed out of her bedroom.

Owen growled, low in his throat, before calling back, "You try sleeping on a couch that's too short."

"I've slept on it many times, it's perfectly comfortable."

Of _course_ she would say that. _She_ wasn't 6 foot 2. She probably fit perfectly fine on it. "Well, I'm the one lying on it right now and I don't agree," Owen shouted back. He waited for a reply, but there was nothing but silence in return. He gave her another minute, before shifting again, and then calling out, "If you think this couch is so comfortable, how come I'm the one stuck out here and you get the bed?"

"It's my bed," was Claire's immediate reply.

"Yeah, well, I'm worried about _my_ back." Owen shifted again, groaning.

"Getting old, are you?"

Owen chose to ignore that remark, even though he was pretty sure he was only a couple of years older than her. He didn't want it to get twisted that he was calling _her_ old. That, he was sure, wouldn't go down well. Instead, he suggested, "Wanna swap?"

"No," was the immediate reply.

"Well, if you want me to be able to walk tomorrow," Owen started, before he grinned evilly, changing his tactic. "Although, you know, if I'm having trouble walking, that may give you more street cred."

There was a pause, and then he heard her sheets ruffling and a few seconds later she was standing at the foot of the couch. He grinned up at her, standing up, and gesturing to the couch gallantly, "Your bed, madam."

"Shut up." Claire snarled. "You owe me."

Owen decided, wisely, to not say anything else. Instead, he walked over and into her bedroom, coming to a halt at the end of her bed as a realization hit him. He hadn't thought this through. Sure, the bed would be more comfortable than the couch. But he'd forgotten that it was _Claire's_ bed. And that she'd been _in_ the bed only moments ago, the sheets still rumpled from her quick exit. He purposely walked around the bed to the side that remained tucked in. He was an adult. It'd be fine.

o-o-o

Her couch was comfortable. Claire really had slept on it many times before. Of course, usually for a quick nap and not overnight (her bed was _right there_, after all). But she'd never slept on it because there was a guy in her bed. In fact, the whole concept just made her feel a little insane. And she was sure if she told her sister, Karen's response would be, "Why weren't you in the bed with him?" And that thought just made her face flush.

Lying on the couch, left with the blanket that Owen had been using, Claire started to second guess her decision to swap. So what if he would end up limping. It would probably do wonders for her reputation. Well, that, or people would blame her for injuring him. And knowing Owen, he'd probably play up his injury. Yeah, she was probably better off having given him her bed. But, she probably should've grabbed her pillow. And maybe another blanket. He hadn't been out here all that long, but every time she shifted, she'd get another whiff of his aftershave and something else that was just Owen. Claire hadn't realized she'd categorized his scent in her mind, but she had. And now it was driving her crazy, making it hard for her mind to settle and just let her sleep. To make matters worse, from the sounds of the light snores that were now drifting out of her room — she wanted to be annoyed, but somehow, it was _cute_? What was wrong with her? — Owen had had no trouble falling asleep once they'd swapped.

Owen Grady was sleeping in her bed. _Owen Grady_ was sleeping in her bed. Holy shit.

She was going to have to do laundry tomorrow. If the blanket was this distracting, how was she ever going to manage to sleep in her bed tomorrow night? Growling with frustration, Claire turned on her side which, of course, brought her nose closer to the pillow Owen had been using. Tugging the blanket up higher, she closed her eyes and forced herself to relax. She needed to sleep.

In the end, she did manage to sleep. Just not as long or as deep as she would've preferred. She woke up earlier than usual, well before her alarm, and lay on the couch debating what to do. Part of her wanted to just get up and start getting ready, but Owen was still in her room. Should she… Could she just walk in?

She was still debating when her alarm went off and made the decision for her. Claire entered her room, noting that the lump that appeared to be Owen was on the left side of the bed, and that her side, the right, was unoccupied, where her alarm was still beeping. She headed for it first, switching it off.

"Mrgmg," a half groan, half moan, emerged from the bed, and Claire looked over at Owen, who appeared to be burrowing further under the covers, moving the pillow to cover his head.

"Just grabbing my stuff," Claire said, moving to her dresser, pulling open the drawer. Normally she went for a run in the morning. It was part of her routine. After last night, however, she didn't have the energy to even contemplate the idea. Instead, she was focused on making it to Starbucks and getting the largest coffee she could get her hands on. She wondered if she could fit a nap into her schedule.

"Wha time izzit?" Owen slurred.

"5:30." There was a low long moan from the bed and Claire suppressed her chuckle. "This is what you get for taking my bed."

Owen shifted, uncovering his head to look over at her, blinking against the light. "Isn't it Saturday?"

"Yeah, so?" Claire tried to bite back her grin at the sight of his bedhead.

"I thought you didn't go to work until 7:30?" he finally said, shuffling up a bit in the bed, peering over at her.

"Right," she nodded, moving towards her closet and turning her back on him. It was much easier to resist the urge to run her fingers through his messy hair, or to crawl into the bed that looked so inviting after her restless night if she wasn't looking at him. And could she take a moment to point out just _how unfair_ it was that she'd had a restless night and he looked as comfortable as could be, like this whole thing was _no big deal_. So not fair.

"Then why the hell is your alarm for 5:30?"

"Most mornings I go for a run. And then I have to get ready." Claire shuffled through her suits, pulling out what she wanted to wear for the day, before crouching down to pick out a pair of heels to match.

"You need two hours?"

Claire glanced over at him, surprised by his surprise. "What time is your alarm?"

"Twenty minutes before I need to be at the paddock," Owen stated matter-of-factly.

"Twenty minutes? How do you get ready in 20 minutes?" Claire gaped at him, her mouth falling open.

"What's there to do? You get up, pull on clothes, brush teeth and grab something to eat. How much time does that take?" Owen shrugged.

"More than 20 minutes!" Claire huffed. "I need to have a shower." Holding her pile of clothes, she headed for the door. The sooner she was showered, the sooner she could get to work. And the sooner she could put the image of Owen Grady in her bed out of her mind.

"Okay," Owen mumbled, having already sunk back down onto the bed, covers pulled back up to his chin. "Wake me before you leave."

* * *

_And, I would also be remiss if I didn't thank all of you who are following along, especially those who have taken the time to comment. I write for myself first, but you guys are a close second. It wouldn't feel worth writing or posting without your support. _

_I'm so excited to share the rest of this story with you. I've working on my favourite chapter at the moment (which is generally every chapter as I write it). But this one... 😈 _


	12. Chapter 12

Owen was a little surprised that Claire agreed to meet him at Margaritaville when he'd suggested it. But he wanted tacos and there was no better place on the island. This time, instead of getting seated in the dining area, they chose to sit over in the pub/bar section at one of the tiny tables. It was noisier, but it also had no children and the TVs were showing the game. Claire didn't seem to mind when he'd suggested it, and he figured she'd probably be happier the less the evening felt like their first date. At least he hadn't shown up in board shorts—he wasn't about to make that mistake again.

They'd looked over the menu together, debating what they were each going to get, before deciding to share the fish tacos and nachos. While Owen was used to sharing plates of nachos with the guys when they'd watch a game, he'd never really done so with someone he was dating. It wasn't that he was against doing so, it was more that by the time they'd get seated the woman had already picked out what she was ordering and had a specific preference to her food. Claire's casualness around it all was oddly refreshing, although part of him was a little confused when he thought back to her reaction on their first date when he'd gone to order. He decided that he probably just needed to chalk up everything that happened on that date to both of them being awkward and uncomfortable and forget it all. That the Claire he was interacting with _now_, was the "real" Claire.

At some point, Claire excused herself to the bathroom. Owen was busy watching the game when their waiter approached, saying, "Back for more, are you?"

Owen turned, surprised by the comment. "What do you mean?"

"Just surprised that you're dating her, after your first date and all," the waiter shrugged. "That was such a disaster…"

"How would you–" Owen stopped, eyes narrowing, a few things clicking into place. Of course it would make sense that the person who'd spread the rumours about their date was a waiter. Who else had had a front row seat, besides him and Claire? And he knew neither of them were behind it. He smiled tightly, "Just goes to show that you read it all wrong."

"I don't think so," the waiter laughed. "Trust me, I see all sorts of dates go down here."

"Yeah, well," Owen could see Claire returning over the waiter's shoulder. "Some people are worth a second chance."

"Hey," Claire said, sliding back onto her seat, a quizzical expression on her face as she looked at the waiter who was still standing there.

"I was just going to order another beer," Owen said, holding up his almost empty bottle. "Do you want one?"

"Can I just get some more water?" Claire asked, and the waiter nodded, before hurrying off. "What was that about?"

"Nothing, I see him all the time when the guys and I come and watch the games," Owen dismissed him. He wasn't sure how Claire would respond to the knowledge that the waiter had started the rumours way back when. And, anyway, it's not like it mattered anymore. That was months ago, and they were dating now. Well, at least to everyone else's knowledge. He could see their waiter returning, and Owen acted on impulse, leaning over the table to kiss Claire. It wasn't quite a peck, lasting a smidge longer. He was surprised when he felt her start to respond, just as he was pulling back. Claire looked at him with a raised eyebrow, but Owen simply smiled in return, before turning to the waiter to accept his new beer.

The rest of their meal was uneventful, and before long, the two of them were leaving the restaurant.

"So, do I get to spend the night again?" Owen asked softly, his hand on Claire's back as he followed her out the door. It was only because he was standing so close to her that he registered the small falter in her steps. When she didn't reply after a moment, he added, "It's been a couple of weeks."

He'd slept so well that one night, even after his initial hesitancy (and ignoring the rude 5:30 am alarm), that he'd been looking forward to a repeat ever since. But Claire hadn't brought it up again, and he hadn't been sure if he should mention it. Taking her hand in his, they started down Main Street, away from the restaurant.

"Yeah, okay," Claire finally agreed, sounding a little put out by the idea.

"You don't have to sound so happy about it," Owen nudged her, bumping his hip against hers. "I just think people are going to think it's odd that we don't seem to spend any time alone together. But, you know, if it's that big of a deal…"

"It's not," Claire said after a pause, before continuing, a bit annoyed. "And I get it. I just… I'm sick of being screwed over by people's expectations."

Owen couldn't help his burst of laughter.

Claire just looked at him oddly, "What?"

"You know, if you wanted, you could get screwed over a different way," Owen wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, gripping her hand tighter as she tried to pull away from him. "Kidding, kidding," he said, still laughing. He started forward again, Claire falling into step beside him, but he could see a slight grimace on her face. "You know," Owen offered, "All of this is just going to improve your reputation."

"And don't you see how terrible that is?" Claire shook her head. "I don't want people to respect me based on who they think I'm… _screwing_."

"It's just the way things are. And, come on, what's wrong with me? No one would blame you for finding me irresistible," Owen said, a large grin on his face. "Oh! Or are you afraid you can't? I mean, I _know_ it's hard, but–"

This time it was Claire who burst out laughing. It took her a moment, but she finally choked out, "Really Owen? You know _it's hard_?"

"Well, somehow I doubt you'd want it any other way," Owen teased playfully.

"Ugh, Owen," Claire pushed at him lightly, but she was still laughing.

"I've got stamina, baby, I can keep this up all night," Owen chuckled. "You can just lie back and prepare to be amazed."

"I don't know, I generally prefer to be on top," Claire replied, and Owen was sure that his heart stopped for a second, his jaw dropping at her remark. He hadn't actually expected her to join in on the teasing.

"Tell you what," Owen said, pulling Claire behind him as he ducked between two buildings, "You can have a ride right now."

"What? Owen!" Claire exclaimed, and Owen delighted in the horrified look on her face. "I'm not…"

"Relax, Claire," Owen laughed, as they exited the gap into the backlot employee area. "You've got a dirty mind. I was referring to my motorcycle. I don't want to leave it parked here all night."

o-o-o

Parking beside Claire's Mercedes, Owen helped her disembark. It had been a short ride, less than 5 minutes around the lagoon to the hotel, but Claire still felt a bit shaky. She'd never been on a motorcycle before and had been a little hesitant to get on one tonight. But, she trusted Owen. She wasn't sure exactly when that had happened, but she realized that she did, implicitly, when she didn't argue and cautiously got on behind him.

Claire was a little surprised when he pulled a small bag from the back, before following her towards the hotel. "Wait… did you bring a change of clothes?"

"Boy Scout motto—'always be prepared,'" Owen said, holding the hotel door open for her.

"Somehow I doubt you were ever a Boy Scout," Claire replied.

"You're right, I wasn't," Owen chuckled. "Too much rigidity, not enough camping."

Claire gave him a long look as they rode the elevator up to her floor.

"What?"

"I can't decide what kind of a kid you were," Claire finally said, opening her door and entering her place.

"What do you mean?" Owen asked. Claire watched as he made his way to her couch, grabbing his Xbox controller and turning on her TV, looking completely at home in her place.

"I can't decide if you were the type who broke all the rules or…"

"I wasn't a goody two shoes like you, that's for sure," Owen replied.

"Hey, I'll have you know–"

"What? That you broke some rules?" Owen said. "Let me guess, you were one of those kids who learned all the rules so they could know exactly how to get around them. Bending, skirting and finding loopholes, but never really _breaking_ them."

"Argh," Claire growled in frustration. She moved about her place, finding her laptop before joining Owen on the couch.

"Work?" Owen nodded at her laptop.

"Yeah," Claire sighed, opening her email. "Sorry."

"Is this okay?" Owen asked, and Claire looked up to see him gesturing to the TV. "I mean, it's not too distracting?"

"It's fine. I've worked around worse," Claire settled back against the couch, feet up on the coffee table. Actually, it was more than fine. Sure, she'd had to put up with a lot of noisy work environments in the past and she normally preferred to work in silence, but there was something _comfortable_ about sitting there with Owen while he played _Madden_, occasionally shouting at the screen. It wasn't nearly as distracting as she'd thought it would be, even when he'd interrupt her to exclaim "did you see that?" about something that she had, clearly, not seen.

When she finally made it through her last email (well, the last one she was going to deal with for the night), she closed her laptop, setting it aside. She got up and headed into the bathroom to start getting ready for bed. As she exited the bathroom, she noticed that Owen was still playing, and so she ducked into her bedroom, closing the door behind her so she could get changed. She'd just settled into her bed when there was a knock on her door.

"Yeah?" Claire called out, climbing out of the bed, realizing she'd forgotten to pull out the extra blanket for him.

Before she could reach it, the door opened and Owen strolled in, looking ready for bed. He headed straight around her bed to the left side, pulling the covers back.

"Um, what do you think you're doing?" Claire asked, startled, standing with her hands on her hips.

"Going to bed," he said, climbing under the covers.

"Um, not in here you aren't," she shook her head, pointing towards the door. "Out."

"I'm not sleeping on the couch," he disagreed, before squirming until he was lying down, turning on his side so he was still facing her.

"I took the couch last time, it's your turn," Claire argued.

"No way," Owen pulled the covers up higher. "Your couch is too short. Besides, your bed is so comfortable."

"I _know_," Claire fumed. "Get out!" When he didn't say anything, just closing his eyes, pretending to be asleep, Claire stormed around the bed, yanking on the covers. "Owen, this is not funny. That was a one-time offer."

"Make me," he grinned up at her, holding tight to the covers.

"Owen," she whined, still tugging on them. For a moment, she thought she was winning, the covers starting to move, and then Owen gave a giant tug, and the next thing she knew, Claire found herself sprawled half on Owen, half on the other side of the bed. She scrambled off him, sitting up on her side, scowling down at him.

Owen just grinned at her, reaching out to pat the space just below her pillow. "Tell you what, we can share."

"Share?" Claire repeated, trying not to sound horrified at the thought. Her mind was flashing back to their conversation as they had left the restaurant, and she could feel her cheeks heating up.

"I promise to stick to my side," he said, as if he was reading her thoughts. "Make sure you stick to yours."

Growling, she clambered under the covers, lying on her back, staring at the ceiling, feeling unsure how she'd ended up in this position. She could feel the mattress moving as Owen shifted beside her, but she didn't dare look over at him, sure of the grin that would be plastered across his face. "If you snore, I'll kill you," she threatened.

"I don't snore!" Claire grinned at Owen's horrified tone.

She finally turned her head to look at him. "Are you sure about that?"

o-o-o

Entering the boardroom Claire was happy to see that Zara had got there early enough to grab them both seats at the table. She knew it was going to be a packed meeting, as Henry was finally giving his initial presentation on the new asset. The meeting was for everyone who would be involved: sales and marketing, merchandising, public relations, ACU, vets and more.

When she'd received the meeting notice a couple of days before, she'd told Owen, who had been disappointed that he wasn't one of the many invited. He'd immediately insisted that he get to come over after the meeting so that she could fill him in. She shouldn't have been surprised, he'd pretty much invited himself over every time he'd spent the night so far, which was already way more times than the zero she'd ever expected. (Well, at least after their horrible first date, she _may_ have thought about it before then.)

**Have they admitted it's part raptor? **

Claire picked up her phone when it vibrated, barely managing to suppress her eye roll at Owen's text. **It hasn't even started yet. I told you I'd tell you tonight. **After sending her reply, Claire put her phone back on the table, face down.

"Is that Owen?" Zara asked, her voice low as she leaned towards Claire.

"Yeah," Claire nodded, her phone already vibrating with a response. She groaned and picked it up to check.

**Why can't you just tell me as it happens?**

**Because I don't use my phone during meetings. It's rude.** Claire replied.

**I think this warrants an exception. **Owen quickly messaged back.

Claire groaned. **No, it doesn't. I'm putting my phone on DND. **And then she followed through, placing her phone back down.

"What does he want?" Zara asked.

Claire had to give her assistant credit. She knew Zara was eager for more details about what was going on with her and Owen. And that Zara had felt a bit neglected when she'd realized that Claire and Owen _had_ started to date and that Claire hadn't told her. Claire hadn't told her for purely selfish reasons—she wasn't sure she could keep up the lie. She was sure that Zara would ask prying questions she'd have no idea how to answer, while knowing that she _should_ have an answer. Well, should if they really _were_ dating. And, like now, what was she supposed to say? It's not like she could say Owen was interested in the meeting, after all, he technically had no reason to be.

"Making plans for tonight," Claire finally said with a tight smile. It wasn't _really_ a lie.

"Ooh," Zara said, teasing Claire by wiggling her eyebrows and laughing lightly.

"Dinner plans," Claire corrected, but her assistant's antics had her laughing along.

"Right," Zara drew out the word with a wink. Claire almost groaned, but Zara's next line stopped her. "It's really nice to see you so happy."

Thankfully, Claire didn't have to reply, as Henry moved to the head of the table, gaining everyone's attention. She pulled her pad of paper closer to her, ready to take notes. She used to do so on her phone, but found it was too easy to get distracted by incoming notifications of emails. Now, she took notes on paper. It also gave her a built in chance to review them later when she transferred them onto her laptop. A lot of her follow up inquiries after meetings came from those reviews.

Henry's initial presentation didn't yield much information. He wasn't even revealing the name yet, claiming they were still in the process of determining what it should be, but that it would be announced soon. In fact, Claire found herself with a mostly empty pad of paper in front of her as Henry concluded. All she'd really learned was that they had four eggs incubating, with an expected hatching date for late September. And, she'd already assumed eggs were incubating when she'd got the original notice for the meeting. She didn't think he'd have called the meeting before things were well in motion.

The moment he finished, Claire pounced. She wanted more information. She was determined, this time, not to just take what he'd give without pushing for more. "Thank you, Henry, for your presentation. However, I have to say, even after all that, I find I have almost nothing to go off of. With the Indominus, you at least were able to give me the name by this point. And that it was based off the T. rex. All you've shared is that you've created a new hybrid that will be smaller than the T. rex and that there are plans to hire a behaviourist from the start." Claire saw that Henry was about to interrupt her, but she plowed ahead with her questions. "What's this dinosaur based on? What other strands of DNA were used to create it? What are the possible implications of those additions? We need to have learned from the Indominus. It wasn't the T. rex DNA that gave her the ability to camouflage. It was something else."

Claire had to bite her tongue to keep from revealing that she already knew about the use of raptor, cuttlefish and tree frog DNA in the Indominus. Instead, she focused her attention on Henry, waiting for a response. Out of her periphery, she could see a few others leaning forward as well. Good, it wasn't just her who was interested.

"We took the knowledge we learned from the Indominus into consideration when we designed the current specimen," Henry replied, looking aggravated at the questions.

"Consideration? What does that mean, exactly?" Claire pried. "I want to know that we've learned from the Indominus. We can't go down that path again. It's already going to be much harder to get sponsors now."

"Every dinosaur we create in the lab is a learning opportunity," Henry said. "We're always taking that knowledge and using it to improve on the next. However, just because a final result isn't ideal, it doesn't mean that all the steps taken to get there should be immediately disregarded. There were many positive results from the Indominus."

"Such as?" This time it wasn't Claire who was asking, and she looked down the table to see one of the marketing guys, Mark, had spoken up. "We're going to be asked about this dinosaur in relation to the Indominus. Anyway we can spin the Indominus in a positive light is information that would be useful."

"The driving force behind the Indominus was the goal of bigger, scarier and more teeth. While we've shelved the 'bigger' part of the goal, we are still interested in making a dinosaur that brings about the same effect. Creating the Indominus taught us a lot about developing exaggerated predator features."

Claire's eyes narrowed as Henry spoke. Great, another dinosaur meant to terrify. And that pretty much confirmed for Claire that raptor DNA was involved. After all, the report Lowery had got her had stated that was the reasoning behind using raptor in the Indominus. If they were taking lessons from that, then raptor DNA would be something they would keep. Of course, that ignored the increased intelligence that the Indominus had, a side effect that Owen was positive was a result of the raptor DNA.

"So this hybrid, or dinosaur, it's going to be an 'exaggerated predator'?" Mark followed up.

"Not an exaggerated _predator_," Henry shook his head, a look of disgust crossing his face. "Exaggerated _features_. The 'more teeth' aspect that Simon Masrani requested before."

"For the Indominus, you started with the T. rex. What animals were used to exaggerate the predator features?" Claire asked, feeling clever at having found a way to continue to push on the topic without revealing what she knew. "I mean, a lion doesn't seem all that scary compared to a dinosaur. Are you combining DNA from multiple dinosaur species?" There was a murmur that went around the room at Claire's words, but she ignored them, keeping her gaze focused on Henry. He appeared a little unsettled by her question, like he wasn't quite sure how to answer it.

"Oh, can you just pull different features from the various dinosaurs?" Someone spoke up. "Like, I want the Triceratop horns combined with the tail from a Ankylosaurus and with the Stegosaurus plates down the back?"

"It's not like picking off a menu," Henry fumed. "Even though our knowledge of genetics has grown by leaps and bounds, we are still far from having mastered the genetic code."

"How do you end up with exaggerated features?" another person asked. "It's not just luck, right?"

"Luck?" Henry looked really put out now. "It's not at all luck. We're very good at our jobs. We focus on species that are similar, but have different predator features emphasized. For example, if you take the T. rex and the Velociraptor. While they're both theropods, the T. rex is noticeably louder and bigger, but the Velociraptor has increased intelligence and agility."

"So are you saying that you would have to combine theropods together?" Claire asked.

"Not _have_ too," Henry shook his head. "But, yes, that is the easiest way forward."

"So for the Indominus, it was based on the T. rex. Are you saying that you used DNA from other theropods?" Could she get him to confirm the Velociraptor connection publicly?

"We explored that option, yes," Henry said, trying to not commit.

"And this new dinosaur, this hybrid," Claire continued, "You said you're using what you learned from the Indominus. Does that mean that this is part T. rex? Or part Indominus?"

"Sort of," Henry said, equivocating. "It's not that simple. And, like I said, this one is expected to be much smaller than the Indominus. It will not be T. rex sized."

"That sounds like another dinosaur is the 'base,'" Mark spoke up again. "Or, at least a large part of it. Another theropod?"

"What dinosaurs do we have that are theropods?" someone else questioned.

"The Allosaurus and the Microceratus," another person quickly rattled off.

"Don't forget the Carnotaurus," came another offering.

"So, what was used here?" Claire asked, redirecting the conversation back to Henry.

"In order to be able to best track the development, we try to limit the number of species involved." When Henry paused, Claire thought he was done. She could see the storm brewing in his expression, that he didn't like what he was being pressed to admit to. To her surprise, he continued, "I can confirm that for this hybrid we have used some Velociraptor DNA."

Again, a loud murmur ran around the room. Everyone there was generally aware of the existence of the IBRIS project on the island, but few had ever actually seen the raptors, as they were considered off limits to anyone not directly involved in the project (or higher up in management like Claire).

"Wait, does that mean what you made is part Indominus and part raptor?" someone called out.

"Ooh, can we give it a couple name?" another chimed in.

"Like 'velociminus'?" was offered by a third.

"I was thinking more like 'indoraptor,'" the second replied.

"Oh, that is better," the third said, and was met with nods of agreement around the room.

Claire didn't catch who was speaking, but there was laughter throughout the room. She had tried to keep her focus on Henry, noting the way he had tensed at the comments. From his reaction, it looked like they had hit close to home. The laughter also broke through the tension that had been building, and Claire watched as Henry used the opportunity to wrap it up. They were nearing the end of their allotted time anyway, and she doubted she'd be able to get anything else out of him. Not now, anyway. She'd try again later. At least she had some information to work off of now.

She picked up her phone, unable to suppress her small smile (and groan) at the number of missed messages from Owen. Claire really wasn't sure what to make of him finally deciding that he apparently liked having his phone around and enjoyed texting. She sort of felt like she'd corrupted him. Unlocking it, she scanned the messages.

**You should make an exception, just this once. **

**I don't think it's fair that I have to wait until tonight. **

**Wait, did you really put your phone on DND or are you just ignoring me?**

**This isn't fair, Claire. **

**Tell me. **

**Please. **

**At least let me know if they confirm if they used raptor. Don't make me wait. **

She decided to throw him a bone, tapping out: **Part raptor. Part Indominus.**

Her phone beeped only a few seconds later. **Wait? Doesn't that make it double raptor? Raptor squared?**

For the first time since the meeting started, Claire let out a small smile. **Not clear. I don't know proportions, but if it's supposed to be smaller than the T. rex, I'm thinking it may be primarily raptor. Someone's already nicknamed it the Indoraptor.**

The reply was almost immediate: **This is not good**.

**No shit.**

o-o-o

A couple of weeks after they'd received confirmation that the new hybrid was going to be at least somewhat part raptor, Owen was parking his motorcycle at the hotel again. Somehow, they'd fallen into a bit of a pattern (a thought that both made him cringe and roll his eyes—was Claire organizing _him_ now?) where he'd spend at least one night each week at her place (often two). Depending on their schedules, they'd have dinner first, usually on Main Street. On top of that, Claire usually came out to his place for a few hours at some point (although she'd continued to refuse to stay over there), and they tried to fit in at least one lunch or quick break.

He hadn't even noticed how much time he was spending with her until Barry had pointed it out the other week. Barry had said that he was surprised that they were still together. That he'd sort of expected it to fizzle out quickly, expecting that Owen wouldn't actually like the change of pace.

The comments had made Owen pause. He hadn't realized how long it had been since they'd decided to start (fake) dating, until then. He hadn't realized how long it had been since he'd _slept_ with someone, until then. He'd never gone that long before. And yet… he was finding that it wasn't bothering him, or at least, not to the degree he expected. He definitely had no interest in becoming celibate, but he was actually really happy with his life at the moment. Sure, his relationship with Claire was _fake_, but really only the dating part. He knew that they weren't actually being fake with each other. He'd caught on early that she wasn't a good liar. And even if she was, they were spending a lot more time away from any prying eyes, giving both of them a chance to just be themselves without feeling like they had to put on an act.

It was their time alone that had ended up surprising Owen most of all, because it was _easy_. They didn't struggle for conversation. She didn't bug him about playing video games or watching whatever game was on. And it didn't bother him that while she often sat with him while he watched and played (and still occasionally played with him), she usually had her laptop and would be answering emails. He'd never understood the idea of comfortable silence before, having always felt the need when he was around others to be _doing_ or _saying_ something. It was also one of the reasons he'd chosen to live where he did—he always thought he needed a lot of alone time. But he was now discovering that maybe it was the _who_ that mattered. Time around Claire wasn't exhausting the way it often was around others.

As he rode the elevator up to her floor, it struck him that Claire was probably the first woman he'd ever slept with who he hadn't actually _slept _with. Not only that, but he'd probably spent more nights with her now, than he had any other woman. Unlike almost all the other women, he didn't feel a need to escape her place on the nights he stayed. And it wasn't just that her bed really was _that_ comfortable. In the past, part of his motivation to escape was to avoid the awkwardness of the morning after. But, somehow, that had never materialized with Claire. He'd kind of expected it to, especially once they ended up sharing her bed. That was not something he'd planned on. But it was something that had, surprisingly, not ended up awkward. Really, his whole relationship with Claire could be summed up by that word, surprise.

Stepping out of the elevator, he quickly strode down the hall, realizing that he was looking forward to the evening. Not that he hadn't in the past, but that it no longer felt like a box he was ticking off—"meet with Claire to keep up pretense." Instead, it now just felt like meeting up with a friend; casual, easy, and with no expectations.

When he reached her door, he knocked, waiting impatiently for her to answer, not that she took long.

"Hey," Claire said, opening the door and stepping aside to let him in. "What did you bring?"

"Burgers," Owen held up the bag. "And yes, I asked for extra pickles."

"Fries?"

"What's a burger without them?" Owen passed the bag over, grinning as Claire pulled it open, inspecting the contents.

"Is there a game?" Claire asked, looking over at the TV.

"Nope, not tonight," Owen shook his head. He followed Claire into the kitchen area, knowing that she'd want to eat over at the table if they weren't watching something. As she emptied the bag, he rooted around in the fridge and pulled out a couple of beers, popping off the tops and carrying them over to the table. As the two sat down, Claire handed over his burger before piling all the fries onto a shared plate between them.

They ate quietly for a couple of minutes before Claire spoke up. "So, I was doing laundry and I found something."

"Hm?" Owen questioned, his mouth still full.

"What are your jeans doing in my laundry?"

Owen swallowed before asking, "Where did you expect me to put them?"

"Wherever you normally put your laundry."

"I thought it'd be odd if I was seen leaving here with a pile of my dirty laundry," Owen shrugged. "What's the big deal?"

"You expect me to be doing your laundry now?" Claire sounded exasperated by the idea.

Owen had to bite back his grin over just how put out she looked. "Well, no…"

"So I was just supposed to… do what when I found them?" Claire asked.

"I guess I hadn't thought that far ahead," Owen admitted. "It's just habit. Dirty clothes go in the laundry hamper." Which was the truth, it _was_ habit. But, he _had_ originally taken his clothes home. It was just becoming a pain, and so the last time he'd stayed over, he'd instead done what was normal, when he changed, he'd put the clothes into the hamper. And he really hadn't thought about her finding them.

He watched as Claire took a bite of her burger, looking thoughtful as she chewed. After she swallowed, she nodded slowly. "Okay, well, if you're going to be staying over this often, I think we need to divide out some chores."

"I'll take the outside ones," Owen quickly claimed.

"I live in a condo. That's part of a hotel. There are no outside chores," Claire stated matter-of-factly, looking unimpressed by his comment.

"Exactly." Owen let loose a grin, catching the fry she chucked at him and popping it into his mouth.

"I'm being serious," Claire groaned. "It's only fair."

"Hey, I brought dinner, I'm pulling my weight," he said, gesturing to the meal between them.

"Are you volunteering to clean the kitchen?" she asked.

"You mean throw out our garbage, put the one plate in the dishwasher and rinse out our beer bottles? Yeah, I think I can do that," he nodded.

"I mean taking that on as your chore, not just for tonight."

"You know," Owen said, an idea percolating. "If I have to do chores now, if we're becoming _that_ serious, I think I deserve a key." He watched Claire, expecting her to immediately deny the request. After all, she didn't strike him as someone who'd be willing to just hand over her keys. That she let him invade her space as often as he was still surprised him.

"Deal, I'll get you one in the morning," Claire replied, shocking Owen into silence. "I was thinking you could deal with the garbage and recycling too."

"Wait, what chores are you keeping?"

Claire just looked at him flatly, before stating dryly, "Apparently, laundry."

* * *

_So... confirmed it's going to be the Indoraptor... or at least similar to it. Not that I was really hiding that. ;) But now that the eggs are incubating, Claire and Owen are running out of options..._


	13. Chapter 13

_I'm trying to balance chapters between Jurassic and clawen, but this one was definitely all clawen. But, next chapter you'll get to meet the behaviourist. Both sides have their time to shine, but I hope you're enjoying both halves. And please remember that I really really really do mean _slow burn.

* * *

**Chapter 13**

Owen was sitting in a chair on his dock holding a fishing rod when he heard Claire's Mercedes pull up. He didn't bother to turn around, still feeling put out from the news that the behaviourist they were hiring for the Indoraptors (yep, they'd really chosen to go with _that_ name) would be shadowing him and Barry for a couple weeks close to the expected hatching date. When Hoskins (it had to be him, right?) had delivered the news, Owen had been left fuming.

He'd texted Claire only to find out that she already knew. Why hadn't she told him? What was the point of everything they were doing if they weren't actually going to share information? He'd sent back **Thanks for giving me a head's up**, before walking away from his phone, not sure he could trust himself to say anything else. When he'd glanced at his phone later, he'd seen a string of missed messages, but he'd only read the last one, where Claire said she hoped it'd be okay if she stopped by later. He hadn't bothered to respond.

When he'd arrived home, he'd tried to work on his motorcycle for a while, but found he couldn't focus. He'd moved out onto his dock, picking up his fishing rod out of habit and casting it onto the lake. He wasn't really fishing, at least, not in the sense of actively trying to catch something. It was more just about engaging in a mindless activity—cast, reel, repeat—for a while, letting his thoughts simmer, hoping to find some calm. At some point, he'd ended up sitting in the chair he kept out on the dock, which just made his casting that much worse, not having the right leverage, but he couldn't be bothered enough to get up.

"You can be really petty, can't you?"

Owen just grunted an acknowledgement, listening to Claire's footsteps as she came down onto the dock to join him.

"Seriously, Owen?" The exasperation in Claire's voice came through clearly. "I'm betting you didn't read any of my messages, did you?" She paused, but Owen remained silent. "I only found out 10 minutes before you texted me. I hadn't even had _time_ to tell you yet. Do you really think that little of me?"

Owen let out a slow breath, before finally turning to look at Claire. She was standing just off to his side, hands on her hips, glaring down at him. "I'm sorry. It's just that Hoskins announced it with no warning and I... I didn't react well."

"No kidding!" Claire stated, the sarcasm thick.

Owen just gave a small shrug, not really sure what else to say. He'd apologized, what more did she want from him?

Claire dug around in her pocket, before pulling out a key card which she handed over. "I came over because I finally managed to get a key sorted out."

Owen took it, feeling chagrined. Here he was being pissed off and she'd been following through on something he still wasn't really sure she wanted to do, even if she hadn't put up a fight. "Thanks."

"Catch anything?" Claire asked, changing the subject.

"No," Owen shook his head, starting to reel in his line again. "But I'm really not trying to. I just find it relaxing."

"I don't get it," Claire admitted, shifting to look out over the water. "I mean, what's relaxing about putting a hook into a poor fish's mouth? And then having to _kill_ it? Seems the opposite of relaxing to me."

"Says the person who seems to order fish half the time we go out," Owen remarked, a smile finally gracing his features.

"I don't have to kill it," Claire shrugged.

"You need to get back to basics," Owen said, standing up from his chair, having reeled the line in. "Here, why don't you give it a try."

"I don't want to kill a fish," Claire protested, even as she accepted the rod.

"You won't," Owen reassured her. "I don't even have bait on the line. Like I said, I'm not actually trying to catch something tonight."

"Then, what's the point? I'm just supposed to throw this line into the water and what? It's supposed to be fun?"

"Oh, so _now_ you want to catch a fish?" Owen asked, facing her as he adjusted her hold on the rod, moving her right hand into position by the reel.

"No…"

"It's relaxing," Owen repeated, moving around to stand behind her. "It's quiet, calm, and something to do that's just a step up from sitting around." He placed his hands over top of hers on the rod, guiding her to hold it in the proper position, her back pulled to his chest. He felt her stiffen against him, and he shifted slightly allowing more space between them. Was he making her uncomfortable? While they'd definitely become closer, easily holding hands and sharing the odd kiss, they hadn't actually had all that much physical interaction. And when they had, it had usually been limited to when they were in public, putting on a show for other employees. He'd been very careful every night they'd shared a bed to make sure he'd left space between them, not wanting to push her too far.

"So to cast, it's pretty simple." Owen walked her through the steps, helping her move the rod through the positions a few times, before they actually released the line. Once it landed in the water, he helped her reel it in, before stepping to the side. "Okay, now you try."

It took a few tries, as she let out the line too early, sending it straight up, and then too late, dropping it at her feet, before she managed to cast it out onto the lake. Once she'd reeled it in again, and successfully cast it back out, Owen moved back to his chair, settling back on it with a grin on his face, legs crossed at the ankles in front of him. He kind of wished he had his phone on him now, so he could get a picture of Claire, dressed in her work clothes, everything still perfectly in place from her makeup all the way down to her heels, standing on his dock casting a fishing line. This was a sight he had definitely _never_ expected to see.

He watched as she cast a few more times before she stopped, turning to look at him. "Are you feeling any better now?"

And just like that, a scowl crossed his face, his thoughts redirected to the news of the afternoon. "Why me? Can't you do something? It's going to disrupt my research, _my_ training."

"As much as people like to act like I'm in charge of everything around here, I'm really not," Claire said. "This is something I have no control over."

"I really thought there'd be more perks to all this," Owen sighed, his gaze drifting back out over the lake.

"To… what? Our fake dating?" Claire asked.

"Yeah," Owen nodded looking back to her, his grin reappearing. "I mean, you're the boss. Shouldn't I get some sort of special treatment?"

"Ha ha," Claire stated flatly, her own gaze skimming across the lake for a moment, before returning to his. "You know…"

"What?" Owen asked when she trailed off. She was shifting nervously now, which put Owen on guard. An unconfident Claire was not something he was used to. In fact, so far, every time he'd tried to unbalance her, _he'd_ been the one who always seemed to end up off-kilter.

"I guess… I've been just sort of wondering if this… if we should be doing this."

"The fishing?" Owen played dumb, but Claire just gave him a look, her posture shifting as she stood straighter. He wasn't sure how he was supposed to react. Just because it was fake, didn't mean that it was _all_ fake. At least, not for him. But maybe that wasn't how she saw it. "The fake dating," Owen nodded. "Yeah, I've wondered too. Are you thinking we should 'break up'?"

"Not–I don't know," Claire admitted. "I mean… the eggs are already incubating. It's starting to feel like we can't do anything. That all of this was for nothing."

"Not _nothing_," Owen disagreed. "We wouldn't know about the raptor DNA. And who knows if they would've hired a behaviourist?"

"They're still trying to make something _scarier_ and _cooler_ with _more teeth_," Claire groaned. "They haven't learned anything. _We_ haven't changed anything."

"I know we can't stop them from being born, but I don't think it's over. Not yet. Maybe we'll be pleasantly surprised, and it'll all turn out fine. But until this thing hatches, until we see what it can do, I don't think we should give up." Owen paused, debating if he should say what he was thinking. He hadn't expected to enjoy his time with Claire so much. He pulled out the key she'd handed over when she arrived from his pocket, turning it over in his hands as he stared at it. Was it all really about to be over? "If the fake dating is too much, we don't have to continue it. But, I'm…" Owen gritted his teeth, but he found he couldn't follow through, chickening out before the words he wanted to say could escape. Instead, he said, "I've really enjoyed having you as my friend. I don't want to lose that." He risked a glance up at Claire and saw that her own gaze was caught on the key he was holding. He held it up towards her, "Do you want it back?"

There was a brief pause as her eyes shot to his, and he didn't know how to read the look that crossed her face. When she started to answer, Owen braced himself, unsure what to expect. Her question caught him off guard. "Do you think something might happen after it's born?"

"I don't know," he shrugged. He wasn't sure how to take her deflection, but decided to go with it. "I find it hard to believe that Hoskins has been involved in all of this and it's going to end with just another attraction. I feel like we're still missing something. Something big. I really don't think it's over."

"Are you still thinking they might try to remove one of the eggs?" Claire asked skeptically. "I've been down to the lab since Henry's presentation. Security has increased again, and the four eggs are very obvious. I don't think it'd be easy for one to go missing. Not without raising alarms."

"Where there's a will…" Owen joked weakly. "If it's not removing a dinosaur, it's got to be something else. The only clear goal I see from Hoskins is figuring out a military use for dinosaurs."

"Which doesn't make any sense for an attraction," Claire reminded him. "What good is a militarized dinosaur that will be stuck in a paddock with thousands of visitors traipsing by to watch it eat?" Owen scowled at the thought. He hated that he _could_ think of uses for a militarized dinosaur (although, being stuck in a paddock as an attraction definitely wasn't one of them).

"Actually," Claire continued, pulling Owen from his thoughts, "maybe the behaviourist shadowing you will be a good thing. If they're planning to train this dinosaur, the same way you are, or with some nefarious goal in mind, the behaviourist will have to be in on it. Maybe you can learn something from them."

"Maybe," Owen said, although he didn't like thinking about the behaviourist at all. He wished he knew who they had hired. Or just more about the project in general. He only knew as much as he did about the Indoraptor because of Claire. He didn't like being left in the dark.

Claire glanced down at her watch. "I actually gotta go," she said, holding the fishing rod she was still clutching out towards him.

"Yeah, no problem," Owen nodded, standing up from his chair and taking the rod. He propped it back up using the bucket he had on the dock specifically for that purpose, before walking beside Claire as she headed back towards her car.

"I do want to say," Claire said, staring at the ground for a moment before meeting his eyes. "I really like having you as my friend, too. I don't want to lose that either."

Owen couldn't help the relieved smile that crossed his face at her words. He had been feeling a little nervous about it all, like he'd put himself out on a limb and had been left hanging, when she hadn't responded to his line earlier. "Good."

"I do need to get back though," Claire said, pulling her door open. "But… are we still on for lunch tomorrow?"

"Yeah, definitely," Owen nodded. "I'll come by your office."

"Thanks."

Owen watched as Claire got into her car, remaining in his spot as she pulled out, until he couldn't see her anymore. Then, sighing heavily, he turned around, looking back over his lot, trying to decide what to do now.

He was feeling a bit unsettled after her visit, which wasn't a feeling he was used to after the past few months. He was still annoyed by the upcoming shadowing by the behaviourist, but that wasn't what was on his mind. He _was_ grateful for his friendship with Claire. It was something he'd never expected, and yet, his interactions with her, over text or in person, had quickly become the best part of his days.

Barry had commented the other day that Owen seemed happier and more relaxed recently. Then, Barry had joked that maybe what Owen had needed all along was a steady girlfriend. The comment had almost stopped him in his tracks; thankfully the falter in his footsteps had gone unnoticed. Since then, he'd been thinking about Claire and what they were doing more and more. Would a _real _relationship be such a bad thing? Clearly the past few months had shown that their first date was an aberration. They got along really well, both sliding easily into the other's life. He actually _liked_ spending time with her; looking forward to every encounter, something he couldn't say about most people.

"_Are you thinking we should 'break up'?"_

Neither of them had actually answered his question from earlier. When he'd made the comment about being friends, he'd thought that she might say something. And when she hadn't, initially, he had been afraid that he'd read everything wrong. That maybe everything really had been an act this whole time. That while he was starting to entertain the idea of something _more_, something _real_, that she still saw him as a means to an end. He was both relieved and disappointed that she said she liked having him as a friend.

Maybe Barry had been right all those months ago—that Claire _was_ different—and maybe he really didn't deserve anything more.

Pulling out the key she'd handed him, he looked down at it briefly before shoving it back into his pocket and striding towards his dock, focused on the fishing rod he'd been using earlier. Mindless. He could definitely go for something mindless.

o-o-o

As she turned onto the road leading away from Owen's place, Claire caught sight of the bag sitting on her passenger seat and the smile she had pasted on during their conversation fell away, her shoulders slumping.

What a day. What a week.

When Owen had asked her for a key the other day, she'd confidently replied sure, not wanting him to know he'd caught her off guard. They'd ended up being in a rush out of her place the following morning (Owen, unbeknownst to her, having reset her alarm for what he claimed was a more civilized waking time of 7) and so she hadn't had time to get one made. And then she had forgotten to do so yesterday. But this morning she'd remembered, stopping by the front desk on her way out.

When she had been waiting for her turn (she wasn't about to use her seniority to jump ahead of guests here), a thought that had been bouncing around the back of her mind for the past few days had pushed its way forward, grabbing her attention. It had been niggling at her ever since Zara had made her comment about how happy Claire was. She'd realized that Zara was right, she _was_ happy. She still didn't quite grasp how Owen had gone from the person she'd had a _terrible_ date with, to the guy she was now willingly giving a key to her place, even though he was a guy she _wasn't_ actually dating. And not just that, somehow Owen had become the first person she thought of whenever something happened, good or bad, that she wanted to share.

For the first time in her life, Claire was finding ways to delegate more of her work to others, trying to free up her evenings and block out lunches so that when she and Owen met up she could spend the time with him and not on her laptop. And the nights that they didn't felt longer and lonelier. That's not to say she didn't still enjoy her work. She did, and she still found herself sucked right into it every day. It was just turning out to be surprisingly relaxing to have someone to touch base with for a few minutes throughout the day who wasn't directly tied to her job. Sort of a reminder to look up every once in a while.

When she had finally reached the counter to ask for a duplicate key, she'd thought about how just doing _that_—just asking for a key—was going to start a whole new round of rumours. Normally, the thought would've made her cringe and groan, but she had found that she didn't care. Let them talk about it. There was nothing to be ashamed of or embarrassed about.

And, to be honest, the idea of coming home and finding Owen already in her place wasn't actually unsettling. She had found herself looking forward to it. The truth was, she liked Owen. And she liked who she was with him. It was those thoughts that had been making her rethink everything.

When she thought back to their first date, it still made her cringe, but not just because of his behaviour now. She realized that she shared some of the blame (not 50/50, but she'd take responsibility for a smaller piece). It seemed like, in hindsight, her sister was right—they had definitely had wires crossed over the date. When she'd agreed to fake dating, she'd been mostly nervous about how they were going to manage to spend time together without getting on each others' nerves. Worried that the few encounters they'd had post-date were the aberrations, and that it wouldn't take long before she would realize that she should've trusted her reaction after the date. But, it hadn't turned out like that. Instead, she had found that she liked him _more_. That not only was he someone she could respect because of his work ethic and skills, but as an actual person. That she _wanted_ to spend more time with him and that her heart beat a little faster when she saw a new message from him.

It had made her think that maybe it was time they revisited the whole fake dating thing. That maybe they should consider _actually _dating. The past few months had shown that they had more in common than they'd expected. Claire thought it had shown that there was something _more_ there. Something, that if they tried, could maybe, possibly, turn into something _real_.

Claire had almost texted Owen to give him a heads up about the key, but had decided that it would be just as easy to drive out to his place later and surprise him. And then… then her thoughts had taken her a step further. She knew she worked best with plans. That she liked to know what was coming and to feel like she'd thought through all possible angles and outcomes. She wasn't known for being spontaneous, for taking big uncalculated risks, for putting herself out there.

So she had made a plan. And then before she could talk herself out of it, she had quickly retreated back up to her place and packed a bag. If she was going to do this (and she was), then she was going to go all in.

Her morning had been pretty uneventful, disappearing quickly under her normal pile of work, which she'd appreciated even more than usual, as it distracted her from her restlessness and anxiousness over her decision. She had started second guessing herself the moment she'd shown up for work, but she tried hard to tamp down those thoughts.

And then, not long after lunch, she'd received Owen's frantic text about the behaviourist. She had barely sent her initial reply saying yeah, she'd heard, when he'd replied with his sarcastic _thanks for the head's up_. She had been in the middle of typing out that she'd only just found out and didn't know any details, when that had arrived. She'd sent her reply anyway, and then waited, tensely, for his. When he didn't say anything after a few minutes, she'd cautiously sent another message, asking him what he'd been told, but there had still been no response. When she'd found out a few more details later, she'd passed them along, and again, had received no reply. She hadn't been sure if he was just away from his phone or if he was actively ignoring her.

Claire had thought about the bag out in her car, and then had hesitantly sent a final text just after four, saying that she'd hoped it be okay if she stopped by later.

When she had finally finished for the day, clearing everything off her plate just after seven, she'd stopped in the bathroom and given herself a once over. Maybe this wasn't the best day to make this move, but she felt committed, determined. She knew if she didn't follow through tonight, she never would. She was going to have to try. It was time to step it up. Time to see if there really was more to all of this, to them.

But now, as she drove away from his place, the bag sitting beside her, mocking her, Claire just felt disappointed. Disappointed in herself and disappointed in Owen. She hadn't expected him to bring up breaking up. Especially not when, in fact, she'd been trying to figure out how to do the opposite, how to suggest they _actually_ date.

And then he'd stated that he liked having her as a friend.

A friend.

Claire guessed she probably shouldn't be surprised. After all, they'd shared a bed numerous times now and he'd never even attempted to make a move. Sure, he'd kissed her a few times, but it had always seemed to be motivated by the presence of other employees. Not that she could blame him, that was what had motivated her to do so, too.

Clearly, the friend zone wasn't just a place women put men.

She was so glad she'd left her bag in the car when she'd arrived. That she hadn't been so presumptuous to take it out with her. She didn't even want to imagine the look on Owen's face if he'd seen it. The laughter that would've invariably followed. Nope, it was better that he didn't know. That he would _never_ know.

Pulling into her spot at her place, Claire killed the engine, but didn't immediately get out. For all her nerves going in, she'd been excited and hopeful about the evening. Now, she was back to another night spent with her laptop. At least that would keep her distracted for a while. Finally undoing her seatbelt, Claire got out of the car, grabbing the bag. As she shut the door, her phone beeped, and she glanced down to see a new text message.

**So, I was thinking we should get sushi tomorrow, in honour of you first fishing attempt.**

Well, clearly _he_ was happy being just friends. Letting out a long slow breath, Claire unlocked her phone, debating a reply. Somehow she was going to have to collect herself before tomorrow. In the end, she just sent: **Sure. Sounds good. **

Turning off her phone, she headed into the hotel. Maybe she'd skip the emails and just go straight to bed.

o-o-o

Summer at Jurassic World was one of the worst time periods for weather. Not that it got colder or anything like that. In fact, because Costa Rica was fairly close to the equator, the amount of daylight (about 12 hours) and the temperatures didn't change much over the course of the year. They didn't have seasons the same way that Owen was used to growing up. Instead, Costa Ricans generally divided the year into two, what they called high season and green season, also known as the dry season and the rainy or wet season. And the rainy season started around May and lasted through to early fall. Nublar was actually a little worse off, with the high season also being quite wet, just because of all the clouds that often felt like they were permanently stuck over the island.

While Owen had lived there for over three years now, the seasons had always had very little effect on his own life. Sure, some months he was more likely to be attempting his training sessions in the rain than others, but the raptors never seemed to care, and so Owen had just learned to suck it up. However, now that he was spending most of his free time with Claire, he had started to realize that the rainy season put her on edge. While the start of the rainy season really wasn't all that much different than the rest of the year, as the summer went on, the average amount of weekly rain seemed to steadily increase, and along with it, Claire's mood steadily worsen.

He'd felt a little stupid when he finally realized why. A large chunk of the visitors to Jurassic World came from North America and Europe. Both areas that generally had a break in the school calendar year over the summer. Just in time for all of them to flock to Jurassic World, only to get upset when it would rain their entire vacation. Of course, had any of these visitors ever looked at a forecast, they would've known this in advance. But, apparently few ever did, or they just assumed that _their_ vacation would be the exception. All of this just boiled down to Claire being hammered by guests complaints and requests, generally about stuff she had no control over and no ability to fix.

Owen had made the mistake of laughing when Claire had been venting about the complaints she'd had to deal with one day. He only made that mistake once, when she had turned on him, eyes flashing, and then railed on him for ten minutes on why it mattered. How every negative review threatened to drop their guest satisfaction score out of the low 90s. He quickly realized that maintaining their high score was not just a point of pride for her, but something she seemed to pin a lot of her self-worth on.

Although, he wasn't sure the change in her mood could be tied only to the weather. Ever since the night when she'd dropped off the key, it felt like things had shifted. Owen wasn't really able to put a finger on exactly what it was, just that it felt like something had changed between them that night. It wasn't that things were worse, but it wasn't that things were exactly better, either. Claire was just as friendly as she'd always been, but it was like there was a different current in the air now. He wasn't sure how to deal with it, and had chosen to just pretend it didn't exist.

He'd only used the key twice in the past few weeks, both times because Claire had ended up stuck dealing with some last minute crisis and Owen had already been on his way over. Even having asked for it, it had felt odd the first time he'd let himself in. Like he was trespassing or something. He'd never been in her place alone before, and he'd initially stopped just inside the front door, a little unsure how to proceed. Part of him wanted to snoop, but he'd squashed that instinct down, knowing that nothing would probably end their friendship any faster than that. In the end, he'd done what he usually did when he was at her place—parked himself on the couch and turned on his Xbox. Somehow, ever since he'd initially brought it over, it had never left. In fact, he'd come over a few weeks earlier, to find that Claire had actually moved it, finding it a proper home in the TV stand, the cords now tidily hidden away, instead of hanging down as he had initially set it up. He took that as permission to keep it there.

Today was the third time he'd used his key to let himself in. Claire had texted him as he was on his way over that she was running behind. She said she wasn't sure how late she'd be, but that if he could wait, maybe they could grab dinner once she was free. He'd sent back a simple **ok** as he'd sat on his motorcycle in the hotel parking lot, debating if he should head up or find something else to do. Of course, at that exact moment the sky had let loose a loud crack of thunder and had made the decision for him, as he ran for the hotel entrance, just beating the downpour by seconds. He'd grabbed a beer and settled on the couch, turning on the TV and finding an old game to watch. It had been a long day, he didn't feel like he had the mental energy to attempt playing something, choosing to zone out instead.

When Claire finally arrived home, she'd entered in a whirlwind, dropping a stack of mail on the coffee table in front of him, as she went by. "Sorry I'm late. Have you thought about what you want to eat for dinner?" she asked, heading into her bedroom, the door shutting behind her. Owen could hear her closet doors open, the sound of clothes rustling.

"Anything's fine," he called back. He set his mostly empty beer on the coffee table, picking up the stack of mail, a thick cream envelope catching his eye. Pulling it from the stack, he saw that it was already open, Claire Dearing scrawled in fancy calligraphy across the front.

"I was thinking maybe we could order room service?" Claire suggested, coming out of the bedroom, catching him off guard. He looked up and saw that she'd changed into sweatpants and a t-shirt, a sure sign that her day had been not just long, but draining.

"Sure, no problem," Owen agreed easily. He held up the envelope. "What's this?"

"Are you going through my mail now?" Claire asked, coming to sit beside him on the couch.

"If I'd gone through it, I wouldn't have to ask," Owen replied cheekily, grinning and playfully bumping his shoulder against hers.

"A save the date for Zara's wedding," Claire replied, pulling the envelope from his grasp. She pulled out the postcard like insert and handed it over.

Owen read the card, before looking up at her. "March, that's not a common month for a wedding."

"Yeah," Claire agreed. "But, it's one of the better months for weather here."

"Are they having it here?" Owen asked. "On the island?"

Claire nodded. "I thought they'd do something on the mainland, but Zara said it was Jurassic World that brought them together, so it felt fitting to have it here. I'm not sure where they've decided for their honeymoon yet."

"Nice, sounds fun," Owen nodded.

"That's because you don't have to go," Claire groaned, taking the insert back and sliding it back into the envelope. "I hate weddings."

"Well, this time I'll be your plus one," Owen shrugged. "Weddings are a blast. You've obviously never had the right company before."

"Right…" Claire said, a look crossing her face that Owen didn't understand. "Well, thankfully it's not for a while yet." Claire tossed the envelope back on the coffee table, before standing back up. "Oh, I meant to tell you," she said, heading back towards her bedroom.

"Tell me what?"

"I wasn't sure what to do with your laundry," Claire called back, disappearing through the doorway.

"My stuff's easy, it doesn't need any special care," Owen replied, eyebrows furrowed with confusion.

"I know _that_," Claire's voice drifted out of the bedroom.

Curious, Owen followed after her. In her bedroom, he found her by her dresser, one of the bottom drawers pulled out. Inside he recognized clothes he'd left behind—a pair of pants, a few shirts, boxers and socks. "A drawer? Are you giving me a drawer?" Owen's eyes jumped between the open drawer and Claire and back again.

"Well… I didn't really want to just leave them on top. I thought this would be easier," Claire said, her gaze darting away from his. "If you don't want it…"

"No, I mean, thanks," Owen shifted awkwardly, before repeating himself. "Thanks."

"It's just a drawer," Claire said, pushing it shut with her foot. She turned towards him, an overly bright smile on her face. "So… dinner?"

* * *

_Now... if you haven't yet, please go check out _**50 Shades Of Grady**_ by Elise because it's hilarious. The first chapter is up and I think it'll be 3 parts total. It's a "what if" that takes pre JW and is 100% clawen with a bit of an angst twist. What if there was a plant on Nublar that was a bit of an aphrodisiac...?_

_See you next week. :) And if you're American — hope you had a good July 4th. And Canadians, hope you had a fantastic Canada Day (bit belated, sorry). _


	14. Chapter 14

_Well, I've been working through my remaining plan and it looks like it's going to be around 30 chapters plus an epilogue. Yikes! But I'm really excited for the rest of it to play out. Just gotta get it written._

**Chapter 14**

It was a Tuesday evening and it started off as boring and routine in every way that was becoming her new normal. The thing was, Claire's new normal was still catching her off guard. She wasn't quite used to being back at her place relatively early most evenings, instead of logging long hours at the office. It's not that she was doing less work—she actually felt more productive than ever—but she found that she was able to get through her work quicker than before, and that she preferred spending her evenings working from the comfort of her couch. And the comfort of Owen's company.

Actually, tonight was a little off from her more recent routine, in that she had arrived home just after six, expecting to have dinner with Owen, only for him to get stuck at work late. Something was going down at the raptor paddock, but he hadn't said what, just that he'd get there when he could, but not to wait on him. So, she'd ordered a pizza. It was one of the benefits of being the boss that she particularly enjoyed—she could access the VIP perks and have meals delivered from any of the Main Street restaurants, instead of being limited to the hotel room service. And when it had arrived, she'd taken it over to the couch, making her way through a few slices as she replied to emails, edited a report and looked through her calendar for tomorrow.

When it was approaching 8:30, she closed her laptop, ready to be done with work for the day. Picking up her phone, she found herself dialing her sister. It had been a while since they'd talked, and they usually only did when Karen reached out. Owen still wasn't there yet and talking with Karen seemed like as good an alternative as any for passing the time.

"_Hey Claire,_" Karen greeted her. "_What's up?_"

"Nothing," Claire said. "Just had some time and thought I'd give you a call."

"_Really?_"

"Really," Claire laughed. "I can do that, you know."

"_You can, you just never have_," Karen reminded her.

"Yeah, well… I don't have a lot of–"

"_Free time. I know,_" Karen finished for her. "_I'm always happy to hear from you, you know that._"

"How are Zach and Gray?" Claire asked, not really sure _what _to talk about, even if she was the one who'd initiated the call.

"_They're good_," Karen said. "_Still adjusting to everything, but I think things are starting to get a bit more… well, I'd say easier, but it's not exactly that. More we're all just getting used to the routine. It still really sucks._"

"Yeah," Claire agreed. "I still can't really believe it myself."

"_You and me both,_" Karen sighed. "_And it's not like it should've been a surprise or anything. And it _wasn't_. It's just… I've been with him for so long. You never really realize how much you get used to that, even when you're fighting. How quiet it can be to come home to an empty house. I've never lived on my own before, Claire. And now…_"

"You're not alone, you've got Zach and Gray," Claire reminded her.

"_I know, but they've been spending more time at Scott's, since it's summer break. It's not just weekends right now. The house is so quiet. I miss having someone to talk my day through with. Or someone who could tell if it had been a rough day, and would order my favourite dinner, or put on my favourite movie._"

"You can do those things on your own, you know," Claire told her. Karen's relationship with Scott had always been something that Claire had never understood. Not in the sense that she thought they weren't good for each other, but in the sense that Claire couldn't relate to it. She'd had only a couple of almost serious relationships, and neither had ever come close to the point of even moving in together. But now… for the first time, Claire found that she could start to relate to what Karen was saying. That she understood it, now that Owen was hanging around more, texting her throughout the day. They weren't spending all their days together, but she did feel like she had someone there she could reach out to, if she needed to. Someone who was starting to read her moods. Someone who made her want to look up from work every now and then. It may not be a _real_ relationship, and she knew it would never turn into one, but for the time being, she was determined to enjoy their friendship. She'd rather have it than nothing.

"_It's not the same_," Karen said, her tone resigned. She forced cheerfulness back into her voice. "_Tell me something positive. What's going on with you? Are you and Owen still fake dating?_"

"We are," Claire acknowledged. "Um, something positive? Guest satisfaction numbers last month were up 0.5%."

"_Ugh, Claire_," Karen groaned. "_That's not what I meant._"

"Well it's positive for me," Claire said.

"_Tell me something juicy. What's going through the gossip grapevine there?_"

"Not me, for once," Claire replied, relief coating her tone. "Thankfully, they seem to be sick of me and Owen. I guess we're boring." She assumed that the park was settling into a new equilibrium just like she was, and the gossipers were having to find new targets.

"_That sounds… dull,_" Karen laughed.

"Dull is good," Claire laughed with her. "I don't mind dull." She didn't. She _liked_ the routine that she and Owen were developing. It didn't feel dull, even if it may seem that way to others. It just felt easy and comfortable. She didn't like to think about it too hard, or she'd start to wonder if she'd been depriving herself before. If she should've tried harder all those years. She was never sure if what was going on was specific to Owen, or if was a more general acknowledgement of her needing _something_ more in her life.

"Honey, I'm home," Owen sang out as he let himself in, catching Claire off guard, as she hadn't heard the door.

"_Wait, is that him?_" Karen asked and Claire winced. "_Did he just call you 'honey'? Are you _sure _this is fake? How did he get in? Oh my god, Claire. Did you give him a _key_?!_"

"Just a sec," Claire said into the phone, before covering the mic and turning to Owen, who was looking at her a little sheepishly, still standing in the entryway.

"Sorry," Owen apologized. "I didn't realize you'd be on the phone."

"It's okay," Claire shrugged away his concerns. "It's just my sister. Everything okay at work?" She took in his appearance, scanning him from head to toe. Usually he showed up having stopped by his place, but it was clear tonight he'd come straight from the paddock, still wearing his leather vest and his clothes dusty. He also carried with him the unmistakable odor of the raptor paddock. It wasn't particularly pleasant, but it wasn't exactly bad, a mixture of sweat, raptors, and Owen. Still, Claire found herself wrinkling her nose a bit. "You need to get changed before you sit on my couch."

"Was going to grab a shower," Owen agreed. "I just knew that if I went home first I'd never make it over here. Shower, food, bed. That's all I want. I'm actually hoping I have energy to do the first two."

"Well, food is already taken care of—I ordered pizza earlier," Claire told him, pointing to the pizza box still on the coffee table by the couch. "Help yourself."

"Thanks," Owen gave her a grateful smile. "I'm tempted to give you a hug but…"

"Yeah, pass," Claire backed out of his way.

Owen laughed, passing by her and heading towards the bathroom. He paused in the doorway, just as Claire had lifted her phone back to her ear, and called out, "Tell your sister 'hi' and to say 'hi' to Zach and Gray for me."

"Will do," Claire said, turning her attention back to her phone.

"_So that's Owen…_" Karen drawled. "_His voice is deeper than I imagined. Also… a lot more playful?_"

"He is a bit of a jokester," Claire agreed, before adding, "At least, _he_ thinks he is."

"_I have to say, I'm surprised you're still fake dating,_" Karen said. "_I didn't think you'd be able to keep it up._"

"What does that mean?" Claire frowned, feeling put out.

"_Oh, don't be offended,_" Karen laughed. "_You suck at lying. I was sure you'd get tripped up early on and it'd all be over. Well, that, or maybe you'd actually _really _start to date. Wait… are you? I mean, he's clearly comfortable in your place. Did he say he was going to shower?_"

"No, we're not dating," Claire corrected Karen. "It's still all fake. To be honest, I wasn't sure how well it'd work out either. But more because I didn't actually think he'd want to keep this up. Or, well, that he'd be able too."

"_What do you mean?_" Karen sounded curious. "_Why wouldn't he? Is he a bad liar too?_"

"No," Claire shook her head, forgetting for a moment that Karen couldn't see her. "He's just… he's not known for having relationships. More just for dating. And casual hookups. I thought he'd miss that."

"_Maybe he still is_," Karen hummed. "_Unless you're spending all your time together, he could be._"

"I don't think so," Claire said slowly. "I mean, I'm not saying he _couldn't_ be, but I just… there was an incident early on, and we talked about it. He said he was fine and… well, I trust him. I think if he wanted that he'd tell me. I think we're friends enough for that now."

"_Huh_," Karen drew out the word softly, before repeating it. "_Huh. I wonder…_"

"What?"

"_Are you _sure _you're not actually dating?_"

"Um, I'm pretty sure I'd know that," Claire laughed nervously. "We're friends. Just friends."

"_I don't know,_" Karen disagreed. "_I mean, if he's used to the casual dating scene… this seems like a long break for him. What's he getting out of it?_" Karen paused, before continuing, her voice sounding a cross between horrified and gleeful. "_You're not sleeping with him, are you?_"

"What? No!" Claire's reply was adamant. "Absolutely not." Well, not in the way she knew that her sister meant. She was _definitely_ not going to bring up sharing a bed.

"_Maybe you should,_" Karen suggested. "_It's been a while for you, too._"

"Karen," Claire groaned. "This isn't helpful."

"_I don't know what you want me to say, Claire_," Karen replied. "_I mean, I'm glad that you've got a friend on the island now–_"

"I've always had friends here," Claire interrupted, her tone indigent.

"_Your assistant doesn't count_," Karen dismissed. "_I'm glad that you're talking to me more. And that you sound more relaxed when you do. I just… Are you sure _you _don't want anything more? With Owen, I mean?_"

"I'm…" Claire trailed off. She wasn't sure, not really. Not after their conversation a few weeks earlier. Not after it felt like he'd slammed the door shut. She'd been paying attention to his behaviour since, and she hadn't been able to find any sign that he'd been lying, that he actually wanted more. She wasn't about to put herself out there. Not with how much she really did value his friendship. "I was going to ask him," Claire admitted, glancing back towards the bathroom, glad she could still hear the shower running. She moved over to the window, looking across the lagoon at the bright lights of Main Street, the rest of the island engulfed in darkness. "I had a plan, but… he told me that he really liked me, _as a friend_."

"_Oh. I'm so sorry, Claire,"_ Karen whispered. "_Are you sure you didn't misinterpret it?_"

"I don't know how I could've," Claire sighed. "It was pretty clear. And, well, I'd definitely rather have him as a friend than push him into something he doesn't want and lose him completely."

"_You guys got your wires crossed before_," Karen reminded her. "_Just… make sure you're not doing the same thing now._"

"We're not," Claire replied tightly. She heard the shower turn off, and knew she needed to either wrap up the call or switch topics. "Look, he's going to be back out in a sec, I can't talk about this."

"_Okay, no problem_," Karen agreed lightly. "_I should probably get going anyway._"

"Yeah, me too."

"_Hey, Claire,_" Karen said. "_Call me again. Whenever you want to talk. I miss this. I miss you._"

"I miss you, too," Claire agreed. "Goodnight."

"_Goodnight._"

Hanging up the phone, Claire stared out the window, getting lost in her thoughts. She didn't hear the bathroom door open, or Owen moving about her place until suddenly she was startled out of her thoughts as he joined her at the window.

"Good call?" Owen asked, shoving a slice of pizza into his mouth.

"Yeah," Claire nodded, giving him a wan smile. "Just realizing how long it's been since I've seen Karen."

"Maybe she should come out for a visit," Owen suggested, talking around a mouthful of food. "Bring the boys back."

"Yeah, maybe."

o-o-o

Owen only felt a little guilty when Claire strolled into her place, halting barely a step through the doorway in surprise when she saw him and Barry on her couch. He wasn't supposed to be there tonight. Claire was busy, and so he had made plans with Barry to catch a game. However, they hadn't expected the crowds, both Barry and Owen having completely forgotten that the Summer Olympics were currently on—they had just been planning on catching whatever baseball game was playing. After checking a few of the pubs along Main Street, they'd been ready to give up, as each one was more packed than the last.

It was Owen who'd suggested Claire's place. They couldn't go back to Owen's, as he didn't have reception out there—his TV was used exclusively for video games. They _could_ go to Barry's, except he lived in the employee housing area, and didn't have a full unit. Neither wanted to hang out in one of the common areas, having both been looking forward to getting away from other employees for a bit.

Owen had actually expected Barry to turn down his offer of them using Claire's place. Although, he _had_ bragged on more than a few occasions about how awesome Claire's TV setup was, and how she practically never used it. It was also pretty common knowledge now that Owen spent a significant amount of time at Claire's, and Barry had seen his key one day. He'd only raised an eyebrow, before chuckling at Owen's embarrassed expression.

While he did have a key, Owen wasn't actually quite sure if he should be bringing other people over to her place. Especially a fellow employee. He knew that Claire was protective of her privacy. However, he was feeling a little annoyed with Claire, as she'd been brushing him off all week, telling him she was too busy to see him. On top of that, he was feeling less comfortable on how to act around her. It had hit him the other day, that not only had he not slept with anyone in months now, but that he hadn't even been _looking_. Was he really getting more satisfaction out of his friendship with Claire than he had been with his prior hookups? That thought had caught him off guard, and he wasn't sure how to process it. It mostly pissed him off. He didn't want to be one of those people who pined for someone else, someone who didn't want them. In fact he _refused_ to become one of those people. If she just wanted to be _friends _(ugh, the word just left a bad taste in his mouth now), then he would move on.

He would.

Just… he couldn't. Not yet. They had agreed to keep up the fake dating charade for now. And he really didn't want a reputation as a cheater. So, for now, he'd stick it out. But, if he had to put up with being 'just friends,' well then she could put up with his other friends. And he would take advantage of whatever he could. Like using her big screen TV to watch the game, complete with nachos and wings ordered in from Margaritaville. (He _did_ enjoy that some of her perks were finally rubbing off on him.)

"Hi, Claire," Barry gave her a small wave.

"Hey, Owen, Barry," Claire greeted them, her gaze locked on Owen's.

He gave her a small shrug, then gestured towards the TV as he spoke. "Everywhere was packed tonight. I didn't think you'd mind if we watched the game here."

"Yeah, sure, no problem," Claire replied, nodding slowly, her gaze darting around her place, looking nervous. Owen copied her movements, wondering what she was looking for. After a quick scan of the place, he watched as her shoulders relaxed and she took off her heels. "I'm just going to get changed," Claire told them, picking up her heels and pointing towards the bedroom.

"Okay," Owen said. "There's still plenty of nachos if you're hungry," he called after her, hearing the door to her bedroom shut behind her.

"Are you sure it's okay that we're here?" Barry asked, having obviously picked up on Claire's hesitation.

"Of course," Owen said. "I maybe, probably, should've given her a heads up, though."

"You didn't tell her?" Barry hissed, his gaze darting over his shoulder at the closed door behind them.

"It's fine," Owen brushed away his concerns. "You'll see."

And it was. Or, at least, it seemed to be. Claire came back out, having traded her business suit for jeans and a nice t-shirt, clearly not comfortable enough around Barry to have gone for her normal choice of sweatpants and baggy shirt that Owen had gotten used to. She'd watched the last few innings of the game with them, and had helped herself to nachos.

Owen had just sat back, watching as Claire and Barry made small talk, the two not knowing much about each other, and really only having him in common. He'd thought it might be awkward, but Claire seemed skilled at maintaining conversation with anyone, and finding common points of interests. He'd felt a bit of a frown start to cross his face, as he realized that she _hadn't_ had that ability on their first date. What had gone so wrong then, that she couldn't have even managed small talk like she was now with Barry? Of course, thinking about their first date, just reminded him of the numerous times she'd insisted she never wanted a second. He'd always thought that maybe she was protesting a bit too much but now, watching them, he wasn't so sure. Dammit, he was forever going to be stuck being her friend.

When Barry left, Owen had remained behind. He had thought it would look odd if he'd headed out at the same time. He'd actually spent the last bit of the game trying to come up with an excuse that could justify him leaving, a reason for why he needed to be at his place, and couldn't stay at Claire's. But he'd come up blank.

As the door shut behind Barry, Owen turned to Claire, not really sure what her reaction would be, now that she didn't have to put on a happy face for Barry. However, she didn't say anything, instead she was just gathering up the remains of their snacks off the coffee table. Owen moved over to help her, picking up the remaining empty beer bottles and following her into the kitchen. He turned on the tap and rinsed out all the bottles, placing them orderly beside the sink.

The longer the silence continued, the less sure Owen was that it was an okay silence, or if Claire was so angry that she didn't know what to say kind of silence. He was just about to break it, when she did.

"Are you staying tonight?"

"Huh?" Owen was startled by her question, as it wasn't at all what he'd been expecting.

"Tonight, are you planning on staying?" Claire repeated.

"Oh, um, well, I could?" Owen stumbled, not really sure what she was hoping for, and having not planned on it.

"You don't _have_ to," Claire told him, a frown on her face now.

"I… I didn't plan on staying," Owen said, tripping over the words.

"Oh," Claire's face fell, and Owen was even more confused. What had he missed?

"But I can," Owen quickly added. "I feel like I haven't seen you in a while."

"It's been one of those weeks," Claire nodded. "I wish I could say I was glad tomorrow is Friday, but, I looked at my schedule and it's packed until at least 9, probably later."

"Business dinner?" Owen asked.

"Yeah," Claire said. "Some investors are coming by. We're starting to put out some feelers for the Indoraptors."

"They haven't even hatched!" Owen said, surprised. "Isn't that early?"

"It's a long process," Claire told him. "It's not like they show up and just hand over money. They have to be wooed. And after the Indominus…" She gave a heavy sigh and Owen watched as her shoulders drooped. There were days he forgot how much the Indoraptors were weighing on her. Unlike him, she couldn't forget about it as easily, as she was in and out of the labs. He also knew she'd been working with engineers and construction crews on changes to Paddock 11.

"I'm sorry," Owen said. He wanted to move towards her and give her a hug, to offer comfort in some way. To be able to do more than just offer up words. He wasn't particularly touchy-feely by nature, but he found himself pulling back even more when they were alone, never sure how his actions would be taken. It was easier when they were out in public, and he could at least pass it off as putting on a show. "If you want to be alone…" He looked towards the front door. Was he reading any of her reactions right?

"No," Claire's sharp reply caught them both off guard, and she looked away briefly, before meeting his eyes again. "Don't. Please stay."

"Sure, no problem," Owen nodded. "What do you want? What would make this week a little more bearable?"

"Honestly?"

"Why would I want you to lie?"

"Can we just put on a movie or something? Something brainless? I just need to not think for a while."

"I've got just the movie," Owen nodded, moving out of the kitchen. "Have you ever seen _Weekend at Bernie's_?"

o-o-o

Claire usually looked forward to September. She knew it was kind of an odd position to have, considering it was the height of the green season, which meant dealing with almost daily rain, and usually had the lowest levels of guest attendance (most kids having gone back to school). But that was exactly why it was one of her favourite months of the year. Not the rain (although she did enjoy watching thunderstorms from inside her condo), but the low visitor count. The drop gave her a bit of breathing room, as it opened up some time in her schedule to deal with tasks she'd had to keep putting off earlier in the year.

However, this year September had an extra sense of urgency to it, and even though it was only a few days into the month, Claire was already feeling disappointed. With the Indoraptors' hatching only weeks away now, there was the inevitable last minute panic and flurry of activity, as people suddenly seemed to realize that tasks that only last week had felt like there was lots of time to complete, now needed to be done ASAP. The construction at Paddock 11 was behind schedule because of rain delays (September hatchings _really_ weren't ideal, Claire had vented to Owen) and the marketing team was complaining that '_Indoraptor'_ wasn't testing well in their focus groups and they were re-thinking their whole branding plan.

Today Claire was looking forward to putting all the Indoraptor concerns to the side and instead making some headway on a couple of other projects she'd been neglecting. She'd asked Zara the previous week to try to keep a few hours free for her, so she could really dive into the projects, and when she'd checked her calendar the previous evening, she'd been surprised and relieved to see that nothing new had been scheduled. She was looking forward to her uninterrupted time.

She was just about to leave the control room to head up to her office to work, when Lowery's comment stopped her in her tracks.

"Hey, have you met the new behaviourist?" Lowery asked.

"Who?" Claire turned back to him, trying to think of any new hires she'd heard about recently.

"James something or other," Lowery replied.

"Conrad," Vivian filled in, joining the conversation.

"He's the new behaviourist for the Indoraptors," Lowery added, Claire's confusion apparent.

Claire couldn't remember that name coming up in any emails recently. It probably had, but she must have just glossed over it. She was supposed to have sat in on the interviews, but had been held up by an incident in the aviary during the first day, and HR had then decided that they couldn't have her sit in on a subsequent ones, because it would influence their "no bias" hiring plans (Claire had never rolled her eyes so hard). However, she'd been busy with work and hadn't put up much of an argument, appreciating the time it would free up in her schedule. Also, it's not like she'd have learned more about the Indoraptors in the interviews. They weren't even telling the potential employees what the species was, keeping the job posting vague.

"He's already here?" Claire asked. Had she missed the memo on his arrival date? Probably it had been scattered amongst what felt like the hundred other dates and deadlines around the Indoraptors that had been popping up.

"Yeah, he arrived yesterday," Vivian confirmed. "He's been down in the lab with Wu today."

"Hm," Claire said, nodding slowly. Well, that was an easy enough detour on the way to her office. No reason she couldn't stop by for an impromptu visit. She had been hoping, expecting, as the hatching date grew nearer that she'd get some more information about the Indoraptors and what to expect, especially when they had been sorting out what changes to make to Paddock 11. It hadn't worked out that way. Instead, Wu had just said that whatever they had thought could be improved for the Indominus would be more than enough, as the Indoraptors would be smaller.

Owen had been particularly disgusted at that response, venting to Claire that size wasn't the most important feature when designing the safety systems. His raptors were tiny compared to the T. rex, but their intelligence levels made the T. rex look like an idiot. Put the raptors in the T. rex paddock and he was sure they'd escape within the first day. She'd had Owen go over the changes that had been recommended for the paddock and then had worked his feedback into her reports, making sure that the most critical things he pointed out were included.

Finally escaping the control room, Claire detoured towards the lab. She wondered what information the behaviourist would be getting from Henry. Usually, once the dinosaurs hatched, Henry's part of their development was largely over. He didn't seem to actually care much about the living species, at least not past confirming that they were still alive or being informed of any genetic issues that developed over their lifespan. Instead, he seemed to switch directly to the next one in development, more interested in the science and process than the result. Owen had complained about that, bitterly, to her one day, saying it was likely one of the reasons the Indominus ended up the way she had. That while Henry understood that exaggerated predator features would likely result in exaggerated predator behaviour, he wasn't always thinking about the combinations he was making. That he hadn't thought through the possible side effects of adding the cuttlefish genes when combined with predator behaviour.

The Indoraptors _hadn't_ hatched yet, so maybe that's why the behaviourist was down there. And they didn't yet know the actual viability. She knew Henry was worried about that, as they had already lost one of the eggs when it had failed to develop properly. It wasn't unexpected, but it was always concerning when it happened.

Entering the lab, Claire quickly scanned the area, looking for Henry. She found him standing with a tall man back by the Indoraptor eggs. She paused, a bit startled by his appearance. If it wasn't for the fact that he was the only one in the lab not wearing a lab coat, and was dressed in jeans and a well fitted polo, she would've categorized him as someone working on the management side, not directly with the assets. What was the word her sister had used before to describe some guys? Ivy League? Preppy? His dark brown hair was carefully styled, he was clean shaven and he definitely appeared to be someone who took a lot of pride in (and spent a lot of time on) their appearance, Claire decided, scanning him over. She could tell, even from across the lab, that his jeans were an expensive brand, not the type designed for use out in the field, instead meant to be dressed up (or down) as the occasional called for it. Interesting, she thought, her mind immediately offering up: _Owen was not going to like this guy._

Standing taller, Claire moved confidently across the lab, her stride catching Henry's eye, as he turned towards her.

"Claire, I didn't expect to see you today," Henry greeted her, a tight smile on his face. She knew he didn't like to be caught off guard. It was knowledge that had partially fueled her detour. Yes, she wanted to meet the behaviourist, but getting a chance to throw Henry off balance was never a bad thing.

"I was just in the control room and they mentioned that our new behaviourist had arrived," Claire gave Henry one of her business smiles—polished, perfect, but generally meaningless. "I thought I'd stop by and introduce myself." Claire turned towards the new behaviourist, who had been watching the interaction. She looked up to meet his gaze, holding out her hand. "Hi, I'm Claire Dearing, the Operations Manager here at Jurassic World. I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to meet you before now."

"Oh, I only arrived yesterday," the man replied, shaking her hand with a firm grip and a large smile. "I'm James Conrad." Claire was surprised the guy managed to hold her gaze, his eyes staying level with hers. She'd expected (and was used to) being treated to a once over, her worth often feeling like it was evaluated more on how she looked than anything else.

"Nice to meet you, James," Claire gave him an actual smile. She turned back to Henry, "I also wanted to check in to see if there were any changes to the expected hatching for the Indoraptors."

"We're still on schedule for the end of the month," Henry confirmed. "And all three eggs continue to meet appropriate growth markers."

"I imagine you're excited about the adventure you're about to undertake," Claire said to James.

"I am," James nodded. "Actually, I'm really looking forward to getting out to the raptor paddock. Henry has just been filling me in on the training that has been occuring out there under the … IBRIT project?"

"IBRIS," Claire corrected him. "When do you start out there?" Owen hadn't mentioned the new behaviourist's arrival to her. She knew he was not at all happy about having to let the guy in on his training, but to be blindsided with no warning of when the guy was going to arrive? What did Henry and Hoskins think they were playing at?

"I think the plan is Wednesday," James said, looking to Henry for confirmation, who nodded. "Today Henry is filling me in on all that we know so far about the Indoraptors and tomorrow I'm going to spend some time reading up on IBRIS and the Indominus, while also checking out some of the other dinosaurs. Then, I'll be stationed out at the raptor paddock for probably two weeks, unless the eggs hatch early."

"Owen didn't fill you in?" Henry asked, his expression innocent, although Claire thought she saw a flicker of something in his eyes. "I guess he hasn't been checking his emails."

That was possible, Claire had to admit, although she wasn't about to acknowledge that to Henry. However, she knew from Owen that Barry was good at checking his, and since Barry was to be part of this whole training plan, Owen should've known. Sighing internally, Claire already felt her project time going up in smoke. The sooner she gave Owen and Barry a heads up, the better.

"Owen Grady?" James butted in, thankfully saving Claire from actually having to reply. "Henry has been telling me great things about the progress he and Barry Sembène have done. I'm really looking forward to meeting them."

Claire knew she should say something, probably indicate that Barry and Owen were looking forward to working with James, too. Except she knew that was a lie, and she couldn't bring herself to say it. She settled on focusing on the success the IBRIS project had. "Yes, their progress with the raptors has been very impressive, although, as Owen continually reminds me, they still have a long way to go."

"I didn't realize you were so involved with the training programs," James said, looking pleased. "I guess that means we'll be working closely together."

"Oh, I'm not," Claire said. "Owen and I are…" She found it hard to say dating. Partly because it was a work setting and it felt like odd information to share. But also because even all these months later, she'd never actually said that to anyone. Everyone had just made the assumption and Claire and Owen had never countered it.

"Claire and Owen are… together," Henry supplied when Claire never finished and James looked confused. Claire almost winced at the way he said the word 'together'; she could sense his disgust dripping from his tone, like the whole concept was so juvenile and beneath him. She was surprised he'd felt the need to share that.

"Oh," James said. "Maybe I'll see you out at the raptor paddock."

"Maybe," Claire agreed.

"Well, I look forward to it," James gave her another bright smile.

"Me too," Claire pasted her business smile back on. She quickly excused herself, heading back out of the lab and towards her office. Pausing at the stairs, she pulled out her phone and quickly texted Zara that something had come up and she'd be at the raptor paddock. It was probably better if she filled in Owen in-person.

* * *

_And so, the new behaviourist has arrived! Any predictions?_


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

As Claire parked at the raptor paddock, she let out a long sigh, taking in the rain that was falling steadily. She looked down at the heels she'd put on that morning, expecting her day to be spent only between her office and the control room. The area in front of the paddock was covered in large puddles, the raindrops bouncing off them as they landed. At least she kept an umbrella in her car.

As she got out, umbrella gripped tightly, Claire's gaze swept over the paddock, trying to locate Owen. She was hoping that he'd be in his office, but didn't expect the day to be so kind to her. She spotted Barry who was heading towards the holding pen first. He waved at her, gesturing to her to follow him, which Claire took to mean that Owen was where he was headed. Letting out another sigh, she followed, picking her way carefully across the yard, even though she knew her effort would be fruitless. Her shoes were definitely ruined. She hoped Owen appreciated her sacrifice.

By the time she'd made it over to the holding pen, Barry had gone through the gate and was inside with Owen. The pen didn't have a real roof. Sure, the metal bars did enclose the whole thing, but over the top, they were the same as on the sides, barring anything from escaping, but doing nothing about preventing the rain from falling in. Inside, Claire found two of the raptors in harnesses, with Barry and Owen each looking one over. She watched, silently, for a minute, waiting for them to acknowledge that she was there.

It was the raptor closest to her who noticed her first. When she'd arrived, it had its eyes closed, Owen running his hand repeatedly down its snout. If she didn't know better, and Claire definitely _did_, the raptor looked almost content, like a puppy getting a belly rub, the rain clearly not affecting its enjoyment. However, before she could finally say something, the raptor's eye opened, and she'd swear it locked straight on her, as the raptor tensed.

Owen, who had been murmuring softly, too soft for Claire to hear, looked up and over. "Oh, hey," he greeted her, a smile crossing his face. "What are you doing out here?"

"Why aren't you wearing a rain jacket?" Claire asked, the words escaping her without thought.

Owen looked down at his sodden outfit before reaching up, running a hand through his wet hair and then scrubbing it down his face. "It wasn't raining earlier." He shrugged. "It's just water."

"I'll remind you of that later, when you're sick," Claire said, shaking her head.

Barry chuckled, looking up from the raptor he was standing next too. "I'm not actually sure he _owns_ any jackets." Barry, unlike Owen, _was_ wearing a rain jacket, although he didn't have the hood up, so Claire wasn't sure how much good it was really doing.

"It's Costa Rica. It's usually hot," Owen dismissed them both, turning back to the raptor. "It's not even cold _now_." Which was true. Sure, the rain had caused the temperature to dip a bit, but it was still hovering in the low 70s. When Claire didn't say anything, Owen looked over at her again. "What brings you by today? I thought you were going to be working on your projects all afternoon. I distinctly remember you telling me '_No texting me today, Owen, I mean it. I have to focus on these projects._'" He made his voice go high as he pretended to mimic her.

"I don't sound like that," Claire said, rolling her eyes. "And I _was_ going to work on my projects. I _should_ be working on them."

"Wait, what happened?" Owen stopped what he was doing, swiftly moving away from the raptor and over to the gate until he was standing across from her. He darted a quick glance over his shoulder at Barry, who was still tending to the raptor in his care and not paying them any direct attention. Owen dropped his voice anyway, "Is everything okay? Did something happen? Is it the Indoraptors?"

"Yes, yes, and, sort of," Claire said, answering all three questions. She watched as Owen's brows furrowed in confusion. "Have you been checking your email?"

"My email?" Owen clearly hadn't expected that question. "No, why?"

"Has Barry said anything to you about an email recently?" she asked.

"No…" Owen said slowly, before turning around. "Barry, have we received any important emails recently?"

"_Non_," Barry said, shaking his head. He moved towards the two of them, stopping beside Owen. "Should we have?"

"I think so," Owen said, looking back at Claire, who nodded.

"I met the new behaviourist today," Claire told them. "James Conrad."

"New behaviourist for what?" Owen asked slowly, although Claire could tell he already knew what she was going to say.

"The Indoraptors," Claire confirmed.

"He's here?" Barry asked. "I thought he was going to shadow us."

"He is," Claire nodded.

"When?" Owen said, and Claire could hear the anger already starting to course through him in his tone.

"Wednesday," she replied, wincing ahead of his reaction.

"Like two days from now Wednesday?" Owen voice rose in volume as he asked.

"Yeah," Claire said.

"What the hell, Claire?!" Owen exclaimed, a hand smacking against one of the bars. "Why are we only finding out now?"

"Hey," Claire said sharply, glaring at him. "Don't take it out on me. I came out here because I didn't think you knew."

"What does Hoskins think he's doing?" Owen growled. "Springing this on us."

"_Merde_," Barry said, letting out a low whistle.

"Yeah," Owen agreed. He scrubbed his hand down his face wiping away the rain again, before settling his gaze back on Claire. "How did you find out?"

"Lowery told me he'd started today and was down in the labs, so I went to meet him," Claire said. "James mentioned the raptors and that he was looking forward to getting out here. I asked when that was happening, because you hadn't said anything."

"Because I didn't _know_," Owen growled, his voice dangerously low.

"What's he like?" Barry interrupted Owen.

"He seemed… nice," Claire said, searching for the right word. She wasn't about to say that she thought he seemed a little preppy. Or that she was pretty sure he had been about to hit on her. Neither of those seemed like relevant facts. And it's not like James had had any reason to know she was already in a (fake) relationship.

"Nice," Owen repeated, his eyes narrowing. "What's with the pause?"

"Nothing's with the pause," Claire tried to shrug him off. "I didn't actually talk with him all that long. When I realized that you probably didn't know…"

"Yeah, thanks for coming to tell us," Owen sighed.

"I don't get why Hoskins hasn't said anything," Barry said looking up from his phone that he had pulled out to scroll through his emails. "There's nothing here. I checked my junk folder too, just in case."

"He doesn't like me," Owen replied. "Reason enough."

A growl came from behind them and the three turned their gazes over to the two raptors who had, until then, been waiting patiently in their harnesses. When the raptors knew they had Barry and Owen's attention, the one closest to them, the one Owen had been with, started to chitter loudly, sounding almost as if it was scolding them.

"Sorry, Blue," Owen said, moving back to the raptor. "I didn't forget about you."

The other raptor let out a deep growl, not happy still being ignored, and Barry also moved away from Claire. She watched for a few minutes, as the two settled the raptors down, both talking to them as they worked.

"I should go," Claire finally said, when they both seemed to have forgotten that she was still there.

"You could stay," Owen said, looking over at her. "Want to meet my girls?"

Claire hesitated, and she knew her uneasiness was on full display. "Not today," she finally said. "Someday, when it's not raining."

"Yeah, okay," Owen agreed easily. He looked back at Blue, whispering something that Claire couldn't make out, before he moved back over to her. He rested his hands on the bar between them, leaning forward. "Are we still good for tonight?"

Claire nodded. "I might be a bit late, what with this detour."

"Yeah, me too," Owen sighed. "Barry and I will need to sort out a plan." He reached through the bar, grasping her hand and tugging her closer to the gate. "See you later." He leaned forward, and Claire instinctively did the same, sharing a quick kiss.

Somehow, it had become a habit whenever they parted, at least if they were around others. It was always quick, lasting barely a couple of seconds, and Claire always felt torn when they parted. Part of her wanted to just grab him and pull him closer, to sink into it fully, and experience what it would be like to be _really_ kissed by him. The brief kisses she'd had, had her convinced it would be more than worth it. But the other part of her, the part that always won, didn't want to know for sure. Not when she knew it would never be anything more than just fake.

Pulling back, Claire gave him a smile before calling out a goodbye to Barry. Turning around, she'd barely taken a step forward, when she landed in a puddle, muddy water covering the toe of her shoe. She closed her eyes, counting to five as she let out a slow breath. Yep, ruined. She really hoped the day couldn't get any worse.

o-o-o

Thursday morning, Owen pulled into the raptor paddock already in a bad mood. He'd spent the previous night out at his place, ostensibly because he needed to get prepared for James's arrival. But, really, Owen had been in a bad mood ever since Claire had delivered the news that the behaviourist had arrived and was going to start shadowing him and Barry. He'd been unable to shake his unease over the whole thing, just _knowing_ that something was wrong about it all.

Claire, however, didn't agree with him. She'd kept telling him that he was blowing it all out of proportion. That the guy seemed nice enough. To not condemn James before he'd met him. Owen had tried to argue back, saying who would be so stupid as to take on a job training unknown hybrid dinosaurs in the first place, and Claire had just simply replied, _you_. He'd sputtered, but hadn't been able to come up with a good response. She _was_ right. Not that he was _stupid_, but that what he was doing—what he'd agreed to do—with the raptors was pretty much the same thing. Sure, they weren't hybrids of the same type as the Indoraptors, but it's not like they could ever actually know just how close the raptors they'd created were to the real thing, the reference points being long extinct.

When she'd asked him yesterday if he was coming over, Owen had given a weak excuse about being busy. Claire hadn't pressed and he'd been initially grateful for that. He had spent the evening wallowing in his own anger and frustration, made worse when he'd realized that he probably would've been better off at Claire's, where at least she would have been a distraction from his thoughts.

Getting off his motorcycle, Owen headed straight for the catwalk, wanting a chance to greet the raptors without his inevitable shadow. He was trying to think positively about the next couple of weeks, but he couldn't help the feeling that had taken hold that this was going to send them backwards. He'd barely put one foot onto the metal staircase when he heard Barry call his name, asking him to wait. Sighing, Owen let his head drop for a moment, before he turned around.

"Owen," Barry repeated, approaching him with another man at his side. Owen knew immediately this must be James. He pasted on a smile. He'd really thought he'd got there early enough that James wouldn't have arrived yet. Great, here was another reason he should've gone to Claire's last night, what with her ridiculous 5:30 am alarm.

Owen took in James's appearance, feeling a frown forming, as his gaze skimmed over the other man's polo shirt and jeans. The guy looked ready for a day touring around the park, not training raptors and all the dirty work that came with it.

"Barry," Owen greeted his friend, before turning his attention to James. "And you must be James." He held out his hand, and James shook it firmly.

"That's me," he agreed. "Thanks for agreeing to have me come shadow."

"Oh, we didn't…" Owen started, before trailing off. It didn't matter if they had agreed or not, it was a done deal.

"I've been reading all your reports and am fascinated with what you've done here," James continued, choosing to either ignore Owen's comment or just having not heard it. "You guys have made amazing progress."

"Long way to go yet," Owen just replied stiffly. He didn't like when people were overly enthusiastic about their progress. Yes, he knew they had made gains, and were moving steadily forward. But, he also knew how quickly things could turn. And he was always aware of how people like Hoskins were just waiting, a little too eagerly, in the wings for his progress to pass some invisible milestone, so that they could start pulling on the reins more. Everyday was a balance between trying to push the raptors and make significant strides forward, while also being careful of every step, knowing that one day, they were going to reach that milestone and his control, his influence, would be sharply diminished.

"There wasn't a lot of information about _how_ you've actually implemented your training plan. Like how you choose between different paths. And I'm particularly interested in the early days, back when the raptors were small, since the Indoraptors will be too, when they hatch." James said.

"Well, most of it is instinct. That and really knowing them," Owen shrugged. "It's not a playbook that you can simply follow." There was a pause after his comment, as James didn't appear to know how to respond.

Barry redirected the conversation. "What animals have you worked with before?"

"Oh, lots," James replied, turning to Barry. "I did some work with dogs when I first started out, before I got into large carnivores. I've spent the last few years working with crocodiles down in Australia, but I spent some time in South Africa before then. And now I'm here."

"What _is_ the goal for your work with the Indoraptors?" Owen asked, unable to hold back, his mind whirling with this new knowledge. He wondered if Claire could get him access to James's resume. "I mean, I know that behaviourists work, to some degree, with all of the dinosaurs here, but none of the others are doing anything similar to what we do out here. What's different this time?"

"Nothing," James said. "At least, not that I can tell."

"Nothing? Really?" Owen said, uncertain if his disbelief was over James' potential naivete or, what he thought was more likely, James's attempt to pretend everything was normal. "There's got to be something. What are you being asked to do?"

"Well," James said slowly, and Owen could tell that James was debating what he was going to tell them. "I don't know exactly what the other behaviourists do here, so I can't really compare what I've been asked to do to them."

"But you know about the Indominus?" Barry asked. "I mean, they told you what happened, right? That is the motivating reason for why you're even here."

"Yes, Henry did fill me in on the Indominus," James nodded. "That was… unfortunate."

"One way of putting it," Owen said with a roll of his eyes. He was a little surprised at the familiarity James used with Wu, but chalked it up to the fact that Wu seemed to have been his main point of contact so far. "I generally call it stupidity."

"Owen," Barry warned.

"Hey, just saying it like I see it," Owen shrugged. He was watching James carefully, trying to judge the reaction to his words. Trying to figure out where James really fell on the spectrum of animal behaviourists. What was his motivation for being there?

"Well, I know my main goal is to make sure that nothing like that happens again," James said brightly. Owen couldn't tell from the other man's reaction if he didn't know how to take Owen's comments or was just being polite and trying not to step onto any landmines this early in his employment.

"Good luck with that," Owen muttered under his breath. He saw James's gaze dart his way, but he wasn't sure if he had heard him.

"So," James said, looking around the area. "Where do we start? I'm ready to get going."

"We've got the training schedule up in the office," Barry supplied. "And we need to get the food ready for the day."

"Okay," James nodded. "Tell me what to do."

"I was just going to go say hi to the girls," Owen said, pointing over his shoulder. "I'll be with you guys in a few minutes."

"Oh, I haven't had a chance to meet them yet, can I come?" James asked eagerly, already moving towards the staircase before he got a response.

Owen's gaze shot over to Barry who just shrugged, clearly also unsure how to deal with James. Turning back to James, who was already on the stairs, Owen quickly followed after him. "Sure. Just, you need to stay back. Only Barry and I are allowed out on the main catwalks, as the girls are easily distracted." He ignored Barry's snort, thankful that Barry at least held back from correcting his patently false statement. Whatever, James was new and Owen figured he was entitled to set at least some boundaries.

o-o-o

The following week Owen was ready to tear his hair out. James had become more insufferable as the days went on. Owen had hoped that he'd get a break over the weekend, thinking that James wouldn't show up on those days, but nope, there he was every morning. Owen was running out of ways to deal with his frustration. He'd tried to pawn James off on Barry, but Barry was getting skillful at evading the traps, and James seemed more interested in sticking by Owen's side anyway.

He'd vented, repeatedly, his frustrations to Claire, but she hadn't been much help. She'd just kept insisting there was nothing she could do, and that it was only for two weeks, or until the eggs hatched, whatever came first. To her credit, Claire had sat patiently through all of his venting, never cutting him off or looking overly annoyed. Normally, Owen would consider that being to her credit, except it was just making him feel worse.

In order to avoid James, Owen had taken to doing longer than normal training sessions, because it was the one time he was able to somewhat get away. It had quickly become clear that the raptors weren't a big fan of the other behaviourist (Owen took that as confirmation of his own assessment) and so his fake rule of James having to stay off the main catwalk had actually become a real one. So while James would still hang around the edges watching, Owen would get a few minutes of not feeling like James was breathing down his neck.

He'd really thought that his solution had no downsides, even if the raptors didn't seem all that impressed with the extended sessions. He would deal with their crankiness over James any day. Besides, having them look like they weren't progressing as quickly wasn't always a bad thing. However, it turned out he was wrong.

Owen heard a car arriving at the paddock as he was leaning on the railing, waiting to see if the raptors were going to get the pig this time. Standing up, he'd looked out towards the entrance area, not surprised to see Claire exiting her car. They were supposed to get lunch today. He'd suggested earlier that maybe they could meet up somewhere outside the main park, not wanting to deal with crowds with his already sour mood. Claire had replied that she'd bring something by the raptor paddock and they could decide where to go from there. He watched, waiting until she looked up, and then raised his hand in a quick wave and saw her head towards the stairs.

Squealing from the paddock distracted him away from watching her progress, and he looked down just as the pig burst out of the ferns, cutting across the open area in a desperate bid for escape. The raptors, however, had definitely been learning and were able to act as a stronger, more coordinated and cohesive team now. While Echo followed the pig out of the ferns, Delta, Charlie and Blue emerged from the sides, cutting off the pig's escape plan. It froze, clearly unsure what to do, before zigzagging wildly across the yard. It didn't work. Blue was the lucky one to snag it as it zagged too close. The kill was quick, done with a single snap of her jaws. No matter how many times Owen had seen this happen, the crunch sound always made him wince. Those watching on the sides clapped loudly, as the other raptors closed in, Blue doing her duty as leader and divvying out their spoils, saving the largest chunk for herself.

It wasn't until Owen dismissed the raptors — they had looked up to him for their next instruction once they'd devoured the pig — that he remembered that Claire had arrived. He started towards the stairs, surprised to see she wasn't waiting for him at the top. Normally she'd come up and hang around the edge, watching the raptors with a hesitant and somewhat fearful curiosity.

Walking down the steps, his gaze swept over the area, locking in on Claire. He paused when he realized she wasn't alone, James standing across from her. He hadn't realized James had left the catwalk. A scowl settling on his face, Owen hurried down the stairs faster, eager to get to Claire. So apparently there _was_ something that would steal James's attention away from the raptors.

Striding up to them, Owen took the opportunity to take in Claire's expression. She looked happy, a smile on her face, not at all put out to be talking to the bane of his existence. His scowl became deeper.

"Owen," Claire smiled at him, turning slightly towards him, opening up space for him to join the conversation. "James was just telling me about the pig hunt."

"Successful for a change," Owen nodded. "It's too bad you missed it. They're really starting to work as a team."

"I'm really enjoying the pack dynamics," James butted in. "I really hope that all three eggs end up viable. It'll also make for a more interesting attraction." He said the last bit to Claire, and Owen had to keep himself from rolling his eyes at his obvious sucking up.

Owen moved closer to Claire, settling his hand on her back, getting her attention. "Did you decide where you wanted to eat lunch?"

"Oh, you guys are going somewhere for lunch? Can I join?" James asked, and Owen stiffened, fighting back the words that wanted to escape. James was _not_ going to ruin his lunch. He felt Claire's hand on his back, rubbing reassuring circles, and he tried to relax.

"Well," Claire started, and Owen's eyes widened in worry. Was she actually going to let him join?

"We've got plans," Owen interrupted before Claire could say anything else. He turned to Claire, moving his hand around her waist and pulling her closer to him as he spoke. "I was actually thinking we could just go back to my place." He really did mean just to eat, but if James happened to take it another way, well, he wasn't about to complain.

"Oh," James said, his gaze darting between them. "Okay."

"Hey, Barry?" Owen called out, seeing Barry over James' shoulder. "I'm going for lunch with Claire. I'll be back in an hour or so."

"_Salut_," Barry called back, lifting his hand in a quick wave of acknowledgement.

Owen quickly started to steer Claire away from James, who, thankfully, didn't follow after them, and towards her car.

"Would it have really been so bad to let him join us?" Claire asked as they walked away.

"Have you not been listening to me? I can _never_ get away from him," Owen replied. "Besides, he was hitting on you. Couldn't you see that?"

"No, he wasn't," Claire waved him off. "He thinks you and I are dating. He doesn't know anyone here. He's just trying to make some friends."

"Right," Owen snorted. Was she really that clueless? "Keep thinking that." He glanced quickly over his shoulder, unsurprised to see that James was still watching them.

As they approached her car, Owen followed her around to the driver's side, backing her towards the door.

"Owen, what are you doing?" Claire asked, confused.

"Just go with me. Please." He lifted a hand to cup her cheek before sliding it back into her hair, tugging her towards him as he brushed his lips against hers, once, twice, before he pressed his lips to hers. He didn't try to deepen it, didn't want to push his luck, somewhat surprised she hadn't pushed him away yet. He was startled when he felt Claire responding, one of her hands coming up to clutch at his sleeve, high on his arm. He pulled back, resting his forehead against hers briefly as a soft sigh escaped him. He hadn't expected that. Straightening, Owen gave her a small smile, and a quiet, "Thanks."

"Feel better?" Claire asked, looking over his shoulder at who Owen assumed was James.

"A little," Owen admitted, although he felt his heart sink, ever so slightly. She had just been playing along. Still, he dipped down and kissed her again quickly, and then winked as he stepped back. "And now a little more. Let's go have lunch. I'm starving."

o-o-o

Carrying her laptop, Claire sat down on the couch next to Owen, before placing the laptop on the coffee table between them.

"So, I was thinking," she started, trying to pull his attention away from the video game he was currently engrossed in.

"Hmm?" Owen said distractedly, mashing frantically at the buttons on the controller.

"Owen, I need your attention," Claire said, looking up at the screen, trying to figure out what he was doing. Based on the health bar, all she could really determine was that he wasn't doing well.

"Just a sec," Owen replied, leaning forward, controller held tightly as he urged his character to move. "Come on, come on…"

Claire waited patiently, her gaze focused on the health bar as it continued to dip, until, finally, his character died. She watched as he groaned, tossing the controller onto the table next to her laptop, before collapsing back on the couch, finally turning his attention to her.

"What's up?"

"I've been thinking," Claire started again. "Clearly, the Indoraptors are going to hatch. It's too close, and Mr. Masrani and Henry are way too committed."

"And James and Hoskins," Owen added with a nod.

"Right," Claire agreed. "But, from what you've been saying about James–"

"You mean Mr. _My-Indoraptors-Are-So-Much-Cooler-Than-Your-Raptors_?" Owen asked, a grimace crossing his face.

"Yes, him," Claire said, groaning at the nickname. Owen had been coming up with new ones everyday, based on what was currently pissing him off about his interactions with James. And every one had been just as bad as that one. Naming, clearly, wasn't Owen's talent. It was probably a good thing he'd stuck with the Military alphabet for the raptors. "I know we can't stop anything. I mean, we've known that for a while now. But… well, I'm still not convinced that things are going to work out."

"Me, either," Owen agreed. "There was some stuff James was saying this week… I'm starting to think he's getting a lot more access to the Indoraptor data then we've been led to believe. And I'm really interested in his past. There's got to be a reason they picked him from all the candidates."

"I've been trying to get his resume, I don't know why I can't access it," she said. "Supposedly it's 'missing,' which is ridiculous, because it's a computer file. If I have to, I'll go through Lowery again."

"Well, finding that — while interesting and I definitely want to see it — is not going to do anything either, not really," Owen said with a sigh. "We need something else."

"Right, that's what I've been thinking about," Claire said, pulling the laptop closer to them and opening up a document she'd started. "I think you need to write something."

"Write something?" he asked wearily, looking between the laptop and Claire. "What sort of thing?"

"I think it's time you go on record," she said. "That there's something official in the files on the Indoraptors that says you raised concerns. Something, that if things _do _go sideways, we can point to."

"You mean _when_," Owen said, picking up the laptop and starting to skim what Claire had outlined.

"Either way," she continued, "It would be good to have something in."

"We really don't know much about them," he reminded her. "_No one_ knows much about them. Not even James."

"But we do have a little bit of information, we know they're based on the raptors. And we know there's some Indominus involved and what happened there," she said. "There's got to be something we can say off of that."

"Maybe," Owen said slowly. "I mean, we can say stuff, but I'm not sure it'll have much impact. And I know we're not expecting anything to change _now_, but I mean even in the future. We just don't know enough."

"Ugh," Claire groaned, leaning against the back of the couch, a hand covering her eyes. "I wish we could just go destroy the eggs."

"No, you don't," he disagreed, putting the laptop back on the table.

"It'd be easier than all of this. And actually mean that the project stops," she said, dropping her hand from her eyes and looking over at him. "Thought you'd be on board, since it'd get rid of James."

"While I'd be happy to see James go, after this week I don't have to interact with him again," Owen shrugged. "But, seriously, Claire. It may sound easier, but you know it's not the right thing. You don't really want to condemn an animal before it's even had a chance at life. Before we actually know what it's potentially capable of."

"It's what it's potentially capable of that scares me," Claire admitted. "I thought you'd be on my side."

"I _am_ on your side," he stated. "I don't think the Indoraptor is a good idea. But, at least they're trying to do a few things right this time. As much as I don't like James, as much as I don't trust him, he does," Owen paused, clearly not wanting to say what he was about to say. "He does know what he's doing. He's not dumb. And there's likely going to be more than one Indoraptor that survives. That means siblings and socialization. I think we have to give them a chance."

"Why do you have to be so practical," Claire groaned.

"I can see the light at the end of the tunnel," he said. "A few more days and James is out of my world."

"But not mine," Claire reminded him.

"Yeah, well," Owen shrugged, picking up his controller again and restarting his game. "Sucks to be you."

* * *

_The Indoraptors are almost here! And James is definitely starting to cause some waves. Poor Owen, having to put up with him, although, he is now pretty much free. Claire... not so much._ 😈


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

When Owen arrived at the raptor paddock only to find that both James and Hoskins had beat him there, he knew the day wasn't going to go well. He had been wondering where Hoskins had been the past couple of weeks, surprised that he hadn't come by yet, sure he'd want to meet James and get a chance to check in on things. Especially if Hoskins was involved with the Indoraptors, as they continued to suspect but had been unable to confirm, to Owen's frustration. Not that he needed confirmation, he was pretty convinced, but he would've liked it.

For the first part of the morning, it actually seemed like it might end up going okay. Hoskins was clearly more interested in talking to James than he was in watching Owen, Barry, and the raptors. It meant that Owen had actually had one of his more successful training sessions in a while, and had even managed to find some time alone afterwards (he had never realized just how much he valued that time at the paddock until James had popped into every second of it).

In hindsight, he probably should've cared to find out what Hoskins and James were talking about. He probably should've been curious enough to pry. But hindsight was always 20/20, and he had just been too relieved to be finally left alone. It was as he was exiting the small office building, intent on heading back up the catwalk to see what the raptors were up to, that James and Hoskins ambushed him.

"Owen, just who we were looking for," Hoskins proclaimed loudly, clapping a hand heavily onto Owen's shoulder.

Owen forced himself not to react and to keep an air of calm, asking, "What do you want?" He didn't pause, continuing forward hoping his obvious focus would encourage them to leave him alone. It didn't work, as they both turned to walk with him.

"James has been telling me about his observations over the past couple of weeks," Hoskins said. "And then we started talking about the nature versus nurture debate. You remember talking about that, right?"

Owen just gave a half-hearted nod, not really sure of the point. It wasn't like it was a question that would ever be fully answered, there would always be too many variables at play. Why was Hoskins bringing it up again?

"It's really interesting to think about the Indoraptors, and how they will grow up, compared to the raptors here," James said, as the three started up the stairs. "Your raptors only ever had you as a role model when they were young."

"And Barry," Owen reminded him, looking around for his friend as they reached the top and stepped out onto the catwalk.

"Right," James nodded. "But either way, both of you are humans. They can't learn from you they way they would from a real parent."

Owen just rolled his eyes at the 'humans' remark — of course they were human — before moving along the catwalk towards Barry. If he was going to be stuck with these two, Barry should have to suffer with him. "It's a little hard to give extinct species a parent until you have one that is fully grown," Owen just said mildly. "And even then, that parent will have been raised by humans. And the babies would continue to interact with humans too. We can't ever replicate what it would've been like for them, not originally."

"Sure, but that doesn't mean we can't learn something, even if it's not perfect," James said. "After all, the simple act of observing already influences the result. And even more so here, because you're not simply observing; you're actively interacting with the raptors trying to change their behaviour."

"'_What we observe is not nature itself, but nature exposed to our method of questioning_,'" Owen quoted, coming to a stop by Barry.

"Who said that?" Hoskins asked, looking between James, Owen and Barry.

"Heisenberg," Barry answered before Owen could. "What's brought this up?"

"It doesn't matter," Owen said. "The whole idea you're talking about is just a thought experiment. We don't have parents or babies to deal with."

"Well, actually–" Hoskins started.

"No. Oh, hell no!" Owen's reply was immediate, catching on quickly. "No fucking way."

"Can't you see the learning opportunity here? When is something like this going to present itself again?" Hoskins pushed forward, ignoring Owen's response.

"They're not even the same species," Owen exclaimed. "My girls are not fully grown. They're not ready to be parents or–or–"

"Or role models?" James asked. "Because you're the one who's told me repeatedly how Blue is a role model for her sisters. How she's the leader here. How she's different. More trainable. Empathetic."

"In comparison to her siblings, right," Owen said, gaping at the other two. "That doesn't mean she's just going to be empathetic to everyone or every_thing_."

"Most animals are instinctively protective of their young," James replied.

"Of _their_ young," Owen shot back. "Do I need to remind you again that we're talking about two different species? Or that the Indominus, which the Indoraptor is partially based on, ate its _sibling!_"

"The Indoraptor is mostly raptor," James reminded him. "It's not like I'm talking about a Triceratops. Think of the opportunity here."

"It would be at the cost of the entire IBRIS project," Owen stated firmly. "You can't split the pack up. Any change like that would completely derail my research. Everything we've worked for. All these years, it would all be gone in an instant."

"You're overexaggerating," James disagreed. "Animals can get sick or die. They always have to be able to adapt to change. They can't expect things to be the same forever. _You_ can't expect that."

"We're not talking about a death," Owen said. "Have you learned nothing from your time here? These raptors? My girls? They're smart. They know the difference. And it's not just the ones that would be left that would suffer. The one you take, she's not going to just be happy to be stuck with babies she doesn't know. Babies that _aren't_ raptors. They've never been around babies before. Do you not get how crazy everything you're saying is? They wouldn't know how to parent any more than any other four year old would."

"So we don't separate them," James shrugged. "We bring the Indoraptors here. They can learn to parent as a group. Isn't that what some of the fossil records show? That some species appeared to parent as small communities, not as individual families?"

"You just… you–" Owen sputtered before turning away from them, leaning on the railing looking into the paddock. He couldn't see any of the raptors, but he took a deep breath before letting it out slowly and then repeating.

He'd been waiting every day for the past two weeks for something to happen. He'd _known_ that there was more to James's visit than just learning Owen's techniques, but it had never crossed his mind that it would be something like this. He could vaguely hear Barry talking to the others behind him, but he couldn't focus enough to follow what was being said. Instead, he clutched at the railing and tried to calm down. There had to be something he could do.

o-o-o

"They're insane, Claire, insane," Owen said, stabbing angrily at his steak. He could barely remember how the rest of his day had gone after the conversation with James and Hoskins. He'd felt like he'd been wrapped in an angry haze ever since. He'd already had plans to have dinner with Claire, and he'd been hoping seeing her was going to help him relax and finally shake it off. Instead, he'd spent most of the meal venting. He picked up a bite of his steak and chewed, glaring down at his plate.

"Nothing's decided," Claire reminded him, not for the first time. He looked up when he felt her hand rest on top of his. "All the babies go to the nursery for the first few weeks. And neither Paddock 11 nor the raptor paddock are designed for baby raptors. They can't go out to _either_ for a while."

"It can't happen," Owen said, hating the pleading tone to his voice. "It can't. Everything I've been working on…" He stabbed at his steak again, before putting down his fork, covering his face with both hands as he took a deep breath.

"Hey," Claire's voice was soft and accompanied by her hands on his wrists, tugging his hands away from his face. "Look at me Owen," she asked.

Owen let her pull his hands down. They were seated at a small table for four, but had chosen to sit catty corner from each other and so he didn't have to shift much to catch her gaze. The worried look in her eyes just made him feel worse. He couldn't wait for the day to be over. "I'm sorry," Owen mumbled. "I'm not the best company tonight. I should've cancelled."

"You're my friend, Owen," Claire said. "I don't expect you to always be happy."

"I'm still sorry," Owen sighed. "I just hate this so much. So fucking much. And I don't know how to stop it."

"Like I said, it's not decided yet. Masrani is coming to the island this week. He's hoping to be here for the births this time. I'll arrange a meeting. While he can be a bit head in the clouds, he's also usually reasonable," Claire said. "We'll fix it." Owen huffed in disagreement. "We will," Claire insisted.

"I hate that I'm ruining our evening," Owen turned back to his plate, picking up his fork. "We should be celebrating. Today was James's last day at the paddock."

"So, let's celebrate," Claire said. "What do you want to do?"

Before Owen could reply, before he could even think about what his answer should be, they were interrupted.

"Claire, Owen, what a coincidence seeing you both here."

Owen's gaze shot up at the sound of James's voice. Dammit, he couldn't even get away from him at dinner. And coincidence? Right. James had been there when Owen had said to Barry earlier that he was having dinner with Claire tonight. And it was not that hard to track down people on the island, especially people like Claire.

"James, how are you doing?" Claire greeted him when Owen didn't say anything. He felt her kick his shin lightly, but Owen didn't care if he was being petulant. Had she not heard him all dinner?

"Great, I'm great," James said, pulling out the chair across from Claire and sitting down. Owen's jaw almost dropped open at the behaviour, noting sourly that James didn't even spare him a look, his gaze focused on Claire. Who does that? "Did Owen tell you it was my last day at the paddock today? I'm sad to be saying goodbye to the raptors. Although, I know I'll be seeing more of them soon."

"You wish," Owen muttered, but James didn't even look his way, so he was pretty sure James hadn't heard him.

"Owen was just telling me that it was your final day," Claire said. "I guess the real countdown to the Indoraptors begins now."

"That it does," James nodded enthusiastically. "I've been keeping in close contact with Henry, but there's been no signs of an imminent hatching yet. No cracks or anything. Soon though. Should be soon."

Trying to tune out the conversation, Owen picked up his fork and numbly ate his way through the rest of his steak, not tasting it. He kept waiting for Claire to send James away. When she didn't, he tried to hurry up his eating, not wanting to get stuck there any longer.

Finally, a waiter came by and let James know that his table was ready and his guest had arrived. There was a moment where Owen almost panicked, sure James was about to invite his guest over, before James finally pushed his chair back and stood up. Owen's goodbye was the first enthusiastic word he'd uttered all evening.

When James was finally out of earshot, he turned to Claire, hissing, "What was that about?"

"What?" Claire said, taking a bite of her potato.

"James. Why did you let him stay? Why didn't you make him go away?"

"Why didn't you?" Claire asked calmly. "I wasn't about to be rude to him, Owen. It's not going to help to piss him off."

"This fucking week," Owen grumbled.

"Hey, at least tomorrow's Saturday," she said, and he looked up to see her smiling at him. "Weekend _and_ no James. C'mon, things are looking up."

"Maybe," he said, before narrowing his eyes and asking, "Can I convince you to change your alarm for tomorrow?"

"Will it get you to stop pouting?"

"I'm not–" Owen sighed. Ugh, yeah, he was. "I'm sorry," he apologized again. He looked up and realized James was sitting directly in his sight line. "Tell you what, let's get out of here and I'll let you pick the movie tonight."

"Can I pick anything?" Claire asked, and there was something about her tone that had Owen looking over at her. He swallowed hard at the look in her eyes.

"Anything," he agreed, "but I reserve the right to mock it."

"Hmm," Claire said, looking thoughtful as she chewed slowly on her last bite. She set her fork and knife down and nodded resolutely. "Okay. I can accept those terms."

For the first time that day, Owen laughed.

o-o-o

Sitting at the conference table, Claire felt the need to start fiddling with her pen. Or her phone. She knew it was nervous energy that was trying to force its way outwards in some form, and so she was fighting it back as much as she could. She shouldn't be nervous. She'd been in thousands of meetings over the years. This was her job, her calling, what she did. She hated that today felt different.

For all the meetings she'd been in, she'd never before had one that would include both her boss and the guy she was (fake) dating. While Masrani wasn't on the island much, she knew it was probably too much to hope for that he didn't know about her and Owen's supposed relationship. Not that it would make a difference, everyone else knew, and as the only women who would be in attendance, she was already going to stand out.

So far, James, Hoskins, and Henry were the only others who had arrived. As they waited for Masrani, Owen and Barry, James and Hoskins were chatting animatedly about something, but Claire wasn't paying attention. She found her gaze darting between the door and the clock mounted on the wall. When she'd first arrived, she'd taken a seat on the far side of the long conference table, near the end where she knew Masrani would likely sit. Hoskins and James had arrived together (which Claire had found curious) and Hoskins had sat opposite her, with James beside him. When Henry had walked in a minute after them, he'd chosen to sit on James's other side. That left the two other seats on her side, and Claire couldn't decide if she wanted Owen to sit beside her or Barry.

She wasn't sure what would be better. If Owen was beside her, she could maybe rein him in a little easier when he was inevitably going to explode. But, if he was beside her, it felt like just raising a flag about their relationship, and that everyone would be watching her — them — more carefully. She wasn't sure there was a right answer, and she also knew she wouldn't really get a choice. Barry and Owen would make their own decision.

Masrani was the next to arrive, and Claire gratefully started a conversation while they continued to wait. While he was to be around for a few days, which was better than normal, it was still not enough time to fit in all the discussions they needed to have. She used the few minutes to raise a couple of concerns about other areas of the park with him, knowing that he paid more attention in face-to-face conversation than he ever did to emails.

"I have other places I need to be," Henry interrupted her conversation with Masrani after a few minutes, and the room quieted as everyone turned to him. "It's already five minutes over. Can we just start the meeting?"

"We're still waiting–" Claire started, just as she spied Barry and Owen hurrying down the hall towards the room. She hid her wince as they entered, both looking like they'd had to hack their way there through the jungle. She'd strongly suggested to Owen the previous evening that the two try to clean up before coming, instinctively knowing that Hoskins and James would.

"Sorry we're late," Owen said, as he and Barry rounded the table. He slid into the chair next to Claire, resting his hands on the table top. "We had a bit of an incident at the paddock."

"Clearly," Claire said, but her response was drowned out as others asked about what had happened.

"Just a bit of a tussle between Echo and Blue," Owen shrugged it off. "But it took longer to calm them down, so we weren't able to get out of there on time."

"Great," Claire said, moving on as if he hadn't spoken. She was determined to get through the meeting as quickly as possible. Less time for blow-ups that way. "Let's get started then. I'm sure everyone knows why we're here today, so let's not waste time. James and Hoskins would like us to consider lending one of the raptors to the Indoraptor project. They believe the presence of the raptor would improve outcomes, as the Indoraptors would learn from a trained raptor, instead of from just James."

Claire felt more than saw the moment Owen opened his mouth to interrupt her, and she reached over, laying her hand on his to stop him. It was when she noticed James's gaze following her movement that she almost blushed, and went to quickly retract her hand, only for Owen to outright grab it. She knew then that he'd seen James too. Deciding her best course of action was to continue as if nothing odd was happening, she kept her gaze focused on Masrani. "However, as the raptors are part of their own research project, any attempt to interrupt the current pack brings about a whole host of new issues and problems. And disrupts and potentially invalidates the research."

"There's no _potentially_," Owen stated, and Claire tightened her grip on his hand.

"Regardless, I've arranged this meeting so we can discuss all available options and come to a decision," Claire continued forward smoothly. "I know that there are many strong opinions present," she turned and glared at Owen who just looked at her innocently, "but I think it's important that we hear from both sides, even if we don't agree."

"Thank you, Claire," Masrani said. "I have not had much time to fill myself in, but I am concerned about the potential–"

"I understand the consequences it may have on IBRIS, but I think focusing on that ignores the potential benefits," Hoskins interrupted and Claire was surprised when Masrani barely reacted, just gesturing for Hoskins to continue. Trying to ignore Owen's not quite so sarcastically muttered "benefits, right," she turned to look at Hoskins. "As there are no plans, at this time, to introduce more raptors, this is our best opportunity, in the foreseeable future, to see how the raptors respond when placed into a parenting role."

Claire had known that Hoskins and James were going to try to spin it as a benefit for the raptors. But from everything she'd been told by Owen about IBRIS, she still didn't understand how they expected this to be seen as fitting with the mandate of the project.

"You've never cared about them learning to be parents before," Owen replied, leaning forward, a definite edge to his tone. "What's changed? Why do you care now? How does this fit in with your IBRIS plans? You don't understand the detrimental effects this will have on the pack. You might think you do, but you don't get it. This will set the project back, probably irreparably."

"You're overexaggerating," James joined in, shaking his head. "A pack of three is still a pack. Besides, we already said that it could be the Indoraptors joining the raptors instead."

Claire found her gaze darting constantly back to Masrani, trying to understand if he was being swayed or not. She hadn't been able to determine earlier if he was for or against the idea, although she had attempted to lay the groundwork to support Owen and Barry. So far, Masrani just seemed interested but not committed one way or the other.

"Which is even worse," Owen said, pulling his hand away from Claire as he slapped the table in obvious frustration. "The goal of IBRIS is not to figure out the maternal behaviours of the raptors. In fact," Owen turned, glaring at Hoskins, "based on everything you've always been pushing, it's often clear that understanding raptor intelligence isn't the end goal either. But either way, adding infants to the pack, removing a raptor, _any of this_ is just going to fuck with my research."

"You don't know that," James shot back. "You're making a guess. You're just assuming the worst case scenario."

"The worst case?" Owen looked at him in disbelief. "That's not the worst case. The worst case is that the raptors kill the Indoraptors on sight."

"They might do that?" Masrani finally joined the conversation, looking fascinated by the idea.

Claire watched as Owen scrubbed a hand across his jaw, an action she'd noticed he often did when he was trying to think. "We don't know," Owen finally said. "We have _no_ idea how they'd react. But the Indoraptors, no matter how raptor like they may be, aren't the same species. We can't expect the raptors to be open to this opportunity. It is very common in the animal kingdom for species to kill other species' young. Especially if they think the young may be competition. That's very likely what could happen here." There was a pause while Owen took a deep breath before continuing. "And, even if it doesn't, let's say things went well, and they bonded with the Indoraptors and took them under their wing, so to speak. In that case, IBRIS as we know it, will become a moot point. It can't proceed the way it was going, because there's a massive new variable at play. But, it's not even just their presence that would cause it to fail. If they actually did bond, they aren't going to listen to us. They're no longer going to want to do training drills and chase pigs. They'd likely be more like mother bears, but ten times worse."

"Hmm," Masrani nodded thoughtfully, before turning and asking, "You've been awfully quiet, what do you think, Henry?"

Claire placed her hand on to Owen's lower back, rubbing it softly, when she heard him let out a low sigh, his head sinking. She kept her gaze on Henry, wondering what opinion the geneticist would offer up.

"I'm intrigued by the idea of using one of the raptors as a mother," Henry said slowly. "However, I am not yet convinced of its utmost importance. If we look at the work that Mr. Grady and Mr. Sembene have done, they've made impressive strides on their own. Clearly, lacking a mother has not held the raptors back. And, I find myself agreeing with Mr. Grady here, that disrupting the pack, at this point, either by removing one, or introducing the Indoraptors, is likely to do more harm than go–"

"Now wait a minute," Hoskins interrupted, anger clearly colouring his tone. "Weren't you the one telling me that in order to prevent what happened with the Indominus that the Indoraptors would be better off with a mother? That they needed to be trained?"

"Now wait a minute, Vic," Masrani spoke up, holding a hand up. "Let's hear Henry out."

"You're misinterpreting what I said," Henry said, not at all put off by Hoskins and actually sounding mostly bored. "I repeated what Mr. Grady had already said about the Indominus. It lacked socialization. Socialization can come in many forms with siblings and parents being where most species start. However, that's not the only method. Had the Indominus had a behaviourist from the beginning, it's quite likely things would've turned out differently. At this point in time, we have three eggs that are still viable and and a behaviourist for the Indoraptors. I cannot say, with any certainty, that adding a raptor to the mix would improve outcomes."

Claire sat back, not sure how to take Henry siding with Owen over the whole issue. That was not what she'd been expecting. Especially when he'd chosen to sit with James and Hoskins. It made her wonder what she was missing. Was there something else going on that he was trying to keep covered? This was definitely something she'd have to discuss with Owen, but for now, she'd take Henry's support.

"The raptors are not meant to be an attraction," Barry added when Henry finished. "While they have been interacting with us, with Owen and myself, and have been observed by others at the paddock, that is not the same as being put on display. They were not raised for that. Animals captured later in life and turned into exhibits rarely thrive as they would in the wild. While the raptors have been raised in captivity, I do not believe they would enjoy having thousands of people traipsing by to view them."

"So we don't put the raptor on display," Hoksins said with a wave of his hand. "That's easy enough. The Indoraptors won't be on display for a while anyway. We just need a mother for the start."

"Are you listening to yourself?" Owen jumped back in. "Just use a raptor for a while? These are living animals. You can't just plop them in and out of various situations and expect everything will go fine. If they did bond, if they did become a parent, they would be even more upset when you took them away. And remember, you want her to teach the Indoraptors. She'd be passing on her thoughts about humans to them, too. These raptors share knowledge. _Specific_ knowledge. They're like crows in that sense, they pass down memories of people. If one of our raptors has a bad experience with a tech at the paddock, that tech can no longer go near _any_ of them. They all know."

"Really?" Henry asked, leaning forward looking intrigued. "They can remember individuals? You're sure?"

Claire managed to keep from rolling her eyes at the almost salivating look Henry had, as he looked engaged and interested in the topic for the first time since he'd walked into the room. She'd always been surprised how little he seemed to care about the species once they left the lab. Maybe this was going to finally change that for him. Maybe he'd finally start to understand what he really was creating.

"Of course I'm sure," Owen looked put out by the comment, as Barry nodded beside him. "You guys are not listening to us. They're smart. Very smart. The smartest dinosaur, at the very least, here."

"Until the Indoraptors are born," James said, cheekily, and Claire felt herself tense, wondering what Owen's reaction would be to that.

"Maybe," Owen simply replied, and the room fell silent, everyone contemplating the implications.

"Well," Masrani said after a few moments, "I've made my decision." All eyes turned to him. "While I am intrigued by the study of parent-child relationships, I do not think, at this time, it's worth interrupting the IBRIS project. These will not be the last dinosaurs born on this island. There will be future chances. For now, their learning will be left to the capable hands of James. Who, I'm sure, will be able to continue to rely on Owen and Barry here for assistance, should he need it."

Claire watched as Barry nodded, and, after a moment, Owen did too. She could tell he was still frustrated by it all. Even though he had 'won,' he didn't look happy with the outcome. She knew he thought it should never have reached this point. Claire hadn't known what to think about the idea, but she trusted Owen, and so she had wanted to just trust his opinion on this. She also knew, however, that he was blinded by his relationship with his raptors and his hatred for Hoskins and now James. Hopefully, with this now settled, they could go back to focusing on the Indoraptors themselves. They still didn't know what was going to happen.

o-o-o

They were born on a late Tuesday afternoon. There was nothing particularly special about that Tuesday. It was raining, but that was just par for the course that week. Not that the Indoraptors would know, anyway, seeing that they were still deep in the lab.

She was in a meeting when it started, Zara ducking in to pass the message on. Claire found it hard to concentrate for the rest of the meeting, her focus pulled away, as she wondered what was happening down in the lab. Had they already hatched? Did all three survive?

The moment the meeting was over, she pushed back her chair and hurried from the room, beelining straight for the lab. On her way down, she pulled out her phone to text Owen. **They're hatching**.

Her phoned buzzed with a response as she was pushing through the lab doors. **And? What do you know?**

**Just getting to the lab. Will message when I know more.**

There weren't a lot of people in the lab. Henry and James were over by the eggs, along with a couple of other lab techs. Claire knew the goal was to keep access to a minimum, to make sure that the Indoraptors would imprint on James and no one else. Still, she strode over to the group.

"Claire," Henry commented, turning to her with a look of surprise. "I wasn't expecting you."

"Yeah, well," Claire said, her gaze focused on the three eggs. She could see cracks on two of them, one shaking pretty vigorously, as whatever was inside tried to escape. "I didn't want to miss it."

"It's important that they see James first," Henry reminded her, and Claire just nodded, her gaze frozen on the one egg, watching as a sharp claw poked its way out, prying at the shell. As a piece broke away, Henry urged all of them to move back, leaving James at the side of the incubator, leaning over the edge, bent close to the eggs.

Twelve minutes after the first claw poked out, the first Indoraptor emerged. James picked up the creature, cooing at it softly, and with a warm wet face cloth, helped clean it off, before feeding it its first meal.

Claire was shifting nervously from foot to foot, craning her neck to try to see what was happening. James's body was blocking most of her view, and so she was hearing more than seeing. She could feel her phone buzzing occasionally in her pocket, but she didn't pull it out. Owen could wait.

It took longer than she expected. Another 15 minutes before the second Indoraptor started to emerge. And just over an hour later before the third egg finally cracked.

But, then, there were three. Claire could hear their weak cries, as they tried to assert their dominance, but their vocal chords were too young, too new, to provide any real heft or depth.

Eventually, she got a chance to see them, as they started exploring their habitat, and James was no longer able to block all three from view.

She wasn't sure what to think, looking at their long black bodies. They reminded her of Blue, each one having a streak that ran from their eyes down their necks to their tails, ranging in colour from orange to yellow to a more pale grey. They were thin, projecting wiry strength, like the raptors. But the proportions were wrong. The neck was longer, and there appeared to be bumps running down their backs. And unlike the raptors, their forearms were bigger, not quite proportional to their legs, but they seemed equally capable of moving on all fours as they were on two.

It was their eyes that made her freeze. They were a deep red and the sight unnerved her. Claire tried to remind herself that they were just babies. Barely a foot and a half long from head to tail. _They can't hurt you_, she chanted in her head, but she felt no urge to move forwards, to see them up close.

She'd been avoiding getting close to the raptors, even though Owen had asked her a few times now if she'd like to meet them. She knew how dangerous they could be. She didn't trust the gates and harnesses. She didn't trust them to be able to fight their instincts.

Months ago, after Owen had seemed nervous to know that she got copies of the incident reports, she'd pulled the files, reading through them more carefully. When she'd got through the report of the tech falling into the paddock and then Owen's actions, she'd sat back in her chair, feeling a little shaky. He could've died. And not just then, but later that same day, when he'd chosen to go into the Indominus paddock. Did he have a death wish? How did he not see how dangerous these creatures were?

She hadn't been able to look at the raptors the same way afterwards. Sure, they hadn't killed him that day. Hadn't even managed to land a single mark on him. But the reports were clear. He was lucky. And the raptors _had_ pounced, they had tried to get him, he'd just managed to outsmart them. But would he be so lucky if it happened again? Would _anyone_?

Claire looked at the three Indoraptors, climbing over each other and bumping into the pieces of their shells that remained in the incubator. Sure, they looked innocent now. But how long would that last?

* * *

_And so the Indoraptors have entered the world. This time, there are siblings. And they have a behaviourist. But is that enough to make a difference? Stay tuned... :P_

_Oh, and if you're waiting on _The Missing Years_, we haven't forgotten about it, it just needed to be put on hold briefly as summer got busy. It'll be back, we're aiming for a new chapter in August. And if you're_ not_ reading it — go catch up! :)  
_


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

Owen was sitting on Claire's couch playing Madden, trying to forget about the day he'd had. It should've been a good one, considering the raptors had seemed into the training. He'd divided them into two teams and had them compete in a few drills. Competition seemed to be right up their alley, the winning team boasting to the other two with their reward rats clutched in their jaws.

However, instead of celebrating his success, he was stewing over a conversation he'd overheard. Some of the ACU had been talking about the Indoraptors, and so Owen had been shamelessly eavesdropping. It had been a month since their birth, and so far, things had been mostly holding steady. One of the Indoraptors had failed to thrive, but that hadn't been unexpected (getting them to birth was only a small part of keeping them alive). The remaining two, from what Owen knew, were healthy and growing by leaps and bounds each day. Claire had told him they were being relocated to Paddock 11 that week, which was earlier than usual, but just more evidence that things were going well.

The ACU guys had been discussing the progress that James was making. Raving over how smart the Indoraptors were at only a few weeks old. The stuff James had been successful with had made Owen roll his eyes. _His raptors_ had been doing the same stuff at that age too. It was just that nobody got to know about it, considering his project wasn't on display. He didn't like to think of himself as the jealous type, and he _liked_ his privacy — it was bad enough, after all, that Hoskins was breathing down his neck, he didn't need the rest of Jurassic World to be doing the same — but it was annoying to see someone get praised for doing things that weren't new or novel.

The buzzer on the game rang, and Owen dropped the controller into his lap. He'd lost. Again. Fittingly, he supposed. He just couldn't pay attention. He looked over to his side where Claire was sitting, feet propped up on the coffee table, laptop on her lap as she furiously typed away. He wondered if he could get to her put it away. He needed a distraction, and clearly Madden wasn't working.

"Whatcha doing?" Owen asked, nudging Claire with his elbow when she didn't respond.

"What?" she said, still busy typing.

"What are you working on?" Owen pried again.

"What's wrong?" Claire glanced over at him.

"Why do you think something's wrong?"

"You never care about what I'm working on."

"That's not true."

Claire just gave him a look and Owen sighed. "So, what's wrong?" Claire repeated.

"Nothing," Owen denied.

"Owen?" Claire closed the laptop, turning all of her attention to him.

"It's just… How is it that everything seems okay?" Owen changed tactics midstream. He didn't really want to admit to his jealousy over James to Claire. Not when he knew she didn't seem to understand or appreciate his frustration with the guy.

"What do you mean?"

"Were we wrong about it all?" Owen asked. "The Indoraptors, I mean. Nothing's happened. There's been no incidents. No injuries. Nothing. They're just… thriving."

"Not all of them," Claire reminded him.

"Sure, but that's not the Indoraptors' fault. It's not like the Indominus — they haven't attacked each other."

"What's brought this on?"

"I don't know," Owen rubbed a hand across his jaw. "I guess I thought once they were born, others would start to see what we know."

"They're only a few weeks old."

Owen groaned, hating that he knew she was right and that he was overreacting. "How is it that everything is just… fine? Did we misjudge it all? I was _sure_ they would be more… I don't know, violent isn't the right word. Aggressive, maybe?"

"You're the behaviourist, not me," Claire reminded him. "But things are a bit better than we hoped, in that there are two of them, so they're not being raised in isolation and they also have James. Even if only one had survived, it wouldn't be alone."

"Right, James," Owen muttered.

James seemed to be the answer to everything related to the Indoraptors now. Owen didn't buy that you could give that much credit to him. While he knew his own importance with the raptors, he wasn't so egotistical to think that their behaviour could be viewed simply as a reflection of him. Nature vs nurture — both would always be competing for control.

"Hey, come on," Claire said. "I'm not saying that I think things will be fine. I still feel like we're missing something. But, we _should_ be grateful that nothing bad has happened."

"I know," Owen agreed. "I hate that part of me wants something to happen. I don't want anyone to get injured or killed. I just… I _know_ we're missing something. Ever since they've been born, Hoskins has pulled back on his visits — which, don't get me wrong, is great — but what is he doing with that time now? I'm hearing about him on island some days and then he never shows up."

"Well, he can't be seeing the Indoraptors, not yet, at least," Claire replied. "While they've been in the nursery, visitors have been limited to James, with occasional visits by Wu and one of the vets."

"Right, so what _is_ he doing?"

Claire just shrugged, and Owen knew she didn't have an answer either. Not that he had really expected her to, considering he knew that she and Hoskins didn't cross paths regularly. "Maybe your info is wrong. Maybe he hasn't been on the island."

"Maybe."

o-o-o

A couple of weeks later and nothing had changed. As they entered her condo, Claire let out a slow breath. She had been looking forward to tonight after the week had seemingly dragged on forever, hoping for a break from work and a bit of normalcy — or what had become her new normal. They should've stayed in, she had realized too late, instead of going out for dinner. At least they were home now.

"Everything okay?" Owen asked, moving into the kitchen to put their leftovers into the fridge.

"Yeah, I suppose," Claire said, following after him. "Do you…"

"Do I what?" Owen turned to her when she didn't continue, a quizzical look on his face.

"It's been a long week," Claire started with, picking up an apple off the counter and fiddling with it. "Long month, really. I guess… You know, Lowery asked about you the other day."

"Huh?" Owen was rooting around in the fridge trying to decide on a drink, but the sudden switch of topics had him closing the door and turning back to Claire. "Lowery? About me? Why?"

"Well, not about _you_, exactly," Claire hedged, looking down at the apple in her hand. "More he was just saying that we haven't been seen out much recently and was asking if there was 'trouble in paradise.'" She scowled at the phrasing, saying it aloud setting her on edge as much as it had when she'd heard it from Lowery. Sighing, she put the apple back on the counter, looking up at Owen when he remained quiet.

"It doesn't feel the same now, does it?" Claire asked, unsure how to read Owen's expression. "Not like before. Just feels like a… I don't know. Like we're just wasting our time or spinning our wheels. Nothing we did, nothing we said, made any impact. And now they're born. And _thriving_. It's just… we're too late, aren't we?"

"What are you saying?" Owen asked when Claire fell silent.

She shrugged, staring at the floor. "Wondering what we're doing, I guess. What's the point anymore? Of any of this. Even if we find something out, it's too late. They're here. So why do this? Why care?"

"If we're not watching, no one else will be," Owen reminded her. "Weren't you the one who was worried about what they're potentially capable of? They're still young, we don't have answers to that yet."

"I know," Claire nodded, letting out a deep sigh. She raised her head, catching his gaze. "I _do_ know that, get that. I do. It's just… how long are we supposed to do this for? They could be alive for the next 20 years. Are we just supposed to put our lives on hold that whole time?"

"Is that what you think we're doing?"

She looked at him, searching his gaze, trying to understand what he was thinking. _Was that what they were doing?_ At this point, Claire no longer felt sure of their actions. She didn't know how to reconcile what she wanted from what they were doing. And the longer they dragged this out, the longer they were together, it was starting to feel like she was holding him back. They weren't actually dating, and she knew he didn't want to. That meant the only reason he wasn't out with others was because he was a good guy, and because she'd pushed for them to be exclusive, to protect her own reputation. She hated the guilt that was now eating at her.

When they'd been at dinner, she'd noticed the few looks that had been sent his way. It wasn't unusual, but she'd never paid them any attention before. But tonight she hadn't been able to brush them aside. Instead, her brain just kept reminding her that he had options, and the only reason he wasn't pursuing them was because of her. What kind of friend was she, really, if she kept him from living his life?

"I'm…" Claire looked at a spot just over his shoulder, unable to hold his gaze. "I think we have to accept that this has been a failure. That it's over. That it's time for us to move on, get back to our lives, end this charade." She watched him nod slowly, clearly gathering his thoughts before he spoke.

"Okay," Owen said and Claire felt like she could see the gears turning as he worked out what he wanted to say. "We can do that." He took a deep breath. "How do you want to end this? How should we play it out?"

"I don't know," Claire said, her heart sinking. There had been a part of her, a _large_ part of her, that had been hoping he'd push back, that he wouldn't agree so easily. That he'd prove that maybe she had read his actions all wrong. She turned away from him and moved across the kitchen, pulling open a cupboard and reaching inside. Turning back to him, she raised the bottle she pulled out. "I think this might be easier with this."

"I thought you didn't drink tequila?" Owen said, but he was already opening the fridge, rooting around for the limes he'd seen in there.

"Preferably never, but tonight I'll make an exception," Claire replied, finding a couple of shot glasses. "Seems fitting, anyway."

They took everything over to the couch, settling on it and quickly downing the first couple of shots. Claire knew why she was drinking, but she wasn't sure what was motivating Owen. Maybe it was just the chance to see her drunk — he had joked once that he wondered if even drunk, if Claire would be unable to loosen her grip on her control.

The two shots quickly turned into four and Claire found herself starting to feel relaxed and loose. She turned sideways on the couch facing Owen, listening as he bemoaned the Indoraptors and James's training. Since the Indoraptors were meant to be a future attraction, there had been a pretty steady stream of employees hoping to get a glimpse once they would be released from the nursery. The result had been a lot of rumours and gossip around both the Indoraptors and James, something, Claire was now realizing, was causing jealousy to flare up in Owen. She rested her hand on his knee in sympathy, nodding along to what he was saying.

As they numbed to the taste of the tequila, they moved to just passing the bottle back and forth, the lime wedges, glasses and salt abandoned on the coffee table. She knew they were supposed to be talking about the breakup, making a plan and all that, but Claire couldn't bring herself to raise the topic again, happy to ignore it and instead just let the buzz of the alcohol dull her senses. Maybe there was something to be said for letting go of control, after all.

Just as the thought crossed her mind, she looked up to realize that Owen was only a few inches away. She wasn't sure when he'd moved closer to her. (Or had she moved closer to him?) She was caught by the intense look in his eyes, as they locked onto her own, her stomach clenching, unsure how to decipher what she was seeing. When he leaned forward, cleary intent on closing the gap between them, she almost did the same. She started to, before her mind caught up with her, pulling her back and away.

She was drunk. She _knew_ she was drunk. And so was he. He wasn't thinking clearly, her mind supplied. He was only doing this because they were drunk and it had been an emotional evening, and because he was feeling down and wanted a pick me up. He'd never shown interest before, there was no way this was real. It couldn't be.

The moment she pulled away, he did too, looking away from her. She thought she saw hurt flash across his face, but it was too fast for her to be sure. They sat in silence, Owen bringing his hands up to scrub at his face before resting his elbows on his knees, head in his hands.

"I'm sorry," Owen said, voice muffled.

"I'm–" Claire didn't know what to say. She wasn't sorry. She was just… confused. Confused and about to be sick, she realized, stumbling up from the couch and diving towards the bathroom, just making it in time. Barely a minute later, she felt a cool washcloth land on the back of her neck, Owen's hand rubbing soothingly on her back.

Pulling away from the toilet, she turned, leaning against Owen who had crouched down beside her. "I feel gross," Claire mumbled, her face pressed into him.

"That usually happens after throwing up," Owen said, pulling her to her feet. "C'mon, you'll feel better after you brush your teeth." As she rinsed her mouth out and brushed her teeth, her gaze caught on Owen's in the mirror. While she was feeling slightly more sober, she was still unsure how to interpret his earlier actions and what he was doing now. He pulled away first, glancing down. "Oh, yuck, I've got puke on me," he said, yanking his shirt away from his body, a look of exaggerated disgust on his face. "Ugh, gross. You owe me."

o-o-o

The pounding of his head was what woke him up first. It felt like someone had taken a jackhammer to his skull and part of him wanted to let them win. Groaning, Owen squirmed slightly, hoping for a more comfortable position, _something_ to ease the pain. He was surprised when his nose brushed across what felt like… hair? Barely opening his eyes, he confirmed that yep, no more than two inches from his face was a head of hair. A head of red hair he would recognize anywhere.

Claire.

Closing his eyes, he breathed deep, hoping for the calming scent of her body wash to roll over him, as he buried his nose in her hair. He'd been dealing with showering in her bathroom after her for months now. The scent was ingrained in him — one he couldn't escape, not that he ever wanted to. This was different, he realized. There was… more to it. It was more complex, mixed with everything else that was Claire.

Letting a smile play across his lips, he tried to take stock of where he was, wondering how he had gotten there. The scent had done its job, the throbbing in his skull now more of a dull ache, but his mind was still fuzzy. What had happened last night?

The feel of the bed, the glimpse of the room he'd seen when he'd opened his eyes confirmed he was in Claire's bedroom. Not that unusual, not after all this time. He'd slept there more times than he could keep track of. However, he'd never woken up so close to her before, with his arms wrapped around her, her legs entwined with his. He'd always been so careful to follow her lead, to make sure to keep to his side of the bed. What had changed?

The kiss, his mind filled in, and he felt his smile grow.

No.

Wait.

He _hadn't_ kissed her. He'd tried to, he remembered that. But she'd pulled back.

Suddenly, the memories of the previous night came rushing back in high definition. Of them bemoaning their failure at stopping the Indoraptors, and the apparent success of the project. Of James's elevated status to being seen as the best animal behaviourists on the island (to which Owen had bitterly noted that no one got to see _his_ work, so the ranking was unfair). Of them deciding that they might as well "break up," since there was no reason to stay together. Of Claire pulling out a bottle of tequila. Of him working up the nerve to finally make a move, to show her that he wanted to be with her, and not because of some dinosaur conspiracy. And of the failed kiss.

How had he read her so wrong? He thought he knew her. He thought he'd been getting all the right signals. Her hand on his leg and the way she'd been leaning towards him on the couch as they passed the bottle back and forth.

Had he hung too many hopes on those few times he was sure she'd responded to his kisses before? Or on the way she always seemed happy to see him — like he was making her day better, the way she made his?

Tensing, Owen opened his eyes again, taking her in. Suddenly the comfort he had taken from their position, the relief and happiness felt tainted. She wouldn't want this, his brain supplied: _she rejected you, and now you're crossing a line_.

He should've left, he realized. Last night, after the almost kiss. He should've grabbed his stuff and got out of there. So what if he was drunk. He could've walked (stumbled) his way home. Or he probably still had beef jerky out at his motorcycle, it had worked well enough last time. Except it hadn't been just about being drunk. She'd thrown up, and he wouldn't have felt okay abandoning her after that. Instead, after they'd brushed their teeth, he remembered helping her into the bed, before removing his shirt and pants. He had meant to go back out to the couch, but then she'd moaned in distress and he thought he'd better stay close by.

He may not have left then, but he could now, Owen decided, his mind suddenly feeling crystal clear. He quickly and steadily untangled himself from her, backing away and out of the bed. The moment he was clear of the sheets, he caught a glimpse of her alarm clock. 5:25. Fuck. He had five minutes to get out of there before she woke.

He quickly hurried over to his drawer and grabbed jeans and a shirt, pulling the pants on as he stumbled towards the door. Stopping just across the threshold, he looked back into the bedroom. Claire remained on her side, in the same position as when he'd first woken up, hair splayed across the pillow.

Biting back the urge to reenter the room, to get back into the bed, he turned towards the front door, yanking on his shirt. It would just be more awkward if he stayed, he reminded himself. He was suddenly thankful they had already agreed to end their fake relationship, he wasn't sure how he'd manage to deal with that, not now, not after…

Slipping on his shoes, he opened the door and slipped out. As it shut behind him, he leaned against it for a second, his hand reaching for the door knob. His brain was warring with his heart, but he wrenched himself away. He was doing the right thing, he reminded himself again, as he waited for the elevator. He was doing what she'd want him to do.

o-o-o

Dumping the basket of recently washed laundry onto her bed, Claire heaved a sigh. This was not how she wanted to be spending her evening. However, she'd been putting it off for too long and it was no longer an option to delay, not if she wanted to wear something clean tomorrow. She picked up the first t-shirt from the pile, folding it quickly and setting it aside, settling into the mindless task — pick up item, fold, add to stack — the routine calming.

Well, calming until she picked up a t-shirt, folded it and was about to set it down when she realized what she was holding.

It had been 11 days since she'd seen him (not that she was counting). Eleven days since she had woken up with a splitting headache, only to instantly forget about it when she realized she wasn't alone, that Owen had migrated across the bed, and she was tucked up tightly against him. Eleven days since she'd initially smiled as she felt his nose nuzzle into in her hair, thinking that maybe she'd read his intentions wrong the previous night, that maybe he really did want something more and it wasn't just the alcohol. Eleven days since that thought had been squashed when, instead of pulling her closer, he'd pulled away and snuck out of the condo. He hadn't even bothered to leave a note or message.

She'd waited for him to say something. To text. To call. Anything. Instead, there had been 11 days of silence.

Claire knew she could've reached out. That nothing had stopped her from picking up her phone or driving out to the raptor paddock or his bungalow. And she almost had. But then she'd second guess herself. They had agreed to break up, after all. Except, they hadn't actually talked about the _how_. How were they going to tell people? Should they fight in public? Make an announcement? Not knowing that, not _having a plan_, had made Claire antsy, and five days after he'd left, she'd told herself that if he didn't reach out by the time she got home, well, she'd do it herself.

Only for Zara to walk into her office, all quiet and somber, giving her hesitant looks. Already on edge, Claire hadn't been able to hold back, growling a "what?" at her assistant when Zara didn't say anything.

"Are you okay?" Zara finally said, stopping just short of her desk, her gaze concerned.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Claire had snapped back, only to be annoyed with herself, because _that_ definitely wasn't backing up her claim. She hung her head, breathing deep. She had been about to speak, when Zara had spoke up again.

"I just heard," Zara had said softly. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Tell you what?" Claire had replied, trying to remember what had happened recently, what Zara could've heard.

"About you and Owen."

Claire's head had snapped up at that, only to immediately look away, unable to handle the sympathy in Zara's gaze. "Yeah, well," she'd started, when the silence had stretched between them, shrugging loosely, trying to remember what they were going to use as their excuse. "It happens," she had finally finished, her mind drawing a blank. She guessed she hadn't needed a plan, Owen having apparently spread it all on his own. If she hadn't had confirmation before that he wasn't interested, it had felt crystal clear then.

"I'm sorry," Zara had said. "I thought you two were really good for each other."

Claire had just shrugged again, grumbling "clearly we weren't" and looking away. Zara, thankfully, had taken the hint and had left her alone. In fact, Zara had been giving her a pretty wide berth the past week.

Looking down at Owen's t-shirt, Claire knew what she had to do. It was time they talked. They could stay broken up. That was fine. But, she needed to snap out of it. It was time to get her life back. Her _control_ back.

She sorted through the remaining pile of clothes on the bed, pulling out a few more items of Owen's. Tossing it all into a bag, she marched towards her door. She could do this. It'd be easy, right? Like pulling off a band-aid.

o-o-o

Owen was sitting at his motorcycle, tinkering, when he heard the car approaching. He looked up and watched as Claire pulled into his lot. He continued to watch, silently, as she climbed out before turning around to reach in and pull out a bag.

He wasn't sure what he'd been expecting, not after the eleven days of silence between them, but the sight of the bag made his chest seize. He knew what it meant and that she wasn't coming to say they'd made the wrong decision and that maybe they should rethink it. Anger immediately spiked, and Owen berated himself for his reaction.

When Claire hadn't reached out the day he'd left, and then hadn't touched base the next day either, he'd felt his hopes slip. Feeling moody, but trying to hide it, he'd just ended up on edge and snappy, everything making him overreact. Four days after he'd left her place, Barry had had enough and had taken him out for a beer. Owen hadn't been sure what he should say, what he _could_ say, considering they'd never got around to that part of the conversation. But, since she didn't seem interested in talking, he took that as confirmation that she was sticking by their plan to break up. He didn't have to say much to Barry in the end, his friend's gaze turning sympathetic immediately, a hand patting him lightly on the back before ordering a second round of beers.

When Claire came to a stop by the motorcycle but didn't say anything, Owen raised an eyebrow and simply asked, "What's up?"

"I just…" He watched as Claire's gaze darted around his lot, seemingly unable to stay focused on him. "We haven't talked," Claire finally said, before clarifying, "Since that night."

He rolled his eyes, as if he didn't know when they had last talked. "I didn't think there was anything else to say," Owen said when the silence stretched between them.

"You snuck out," Claire said, her gaze finally landing on him, eyes locking on his. "I woke up and you were gone, no note, nothing."

"I had stuff I needed to get done," Owen shrugged.

"Before 5:30 in the morning?"

He winced, knowing she was right. But, it wasn't like he wanted to admit to _why_ he'd left. He felt no need to re-hash his embarrassment of her pulling away. He didn't want to see the sympathy in her eyes when she reminded him that it had all been fake, that they had been acting.

Claire huffed, before holding out the bag she was carrying. "Fine, if that's the way you want it to be — Mr. Grady, here's your stuff."

His jaw dropped, before a scowl set over his features. "Really, Claire? You're going to try to pull that now?"

"Just… take it," Claire shoved the bag towards him and he grabbed it instinctively.

It felt a little light, and so he looked in, seeing his clothes. His looked back at her. "Where's my Xbox?"

"Oh." Claire looked unsettled for a moment. "I didn't think about it. Feel free to grab it when you get a chance. You could drop off your key then, too."

It felt like a sucker punch, the air whooshing out of him. It really was over, wasn't it. Fake or not, it hurt a lot more than he was expecting. A lot more than the last eleven days of limbo. He nodded, mutely, not trusting himself to speak.

Claire sighed, "I don't know what you want from me."

Owen was surprised by the comment. "I don't want anything," he immediately said, only to regret the words as he could see her closing off. "I mean– I don't mean–" Owen huffed, not sure how to voice his thoughts. Not sure they were _worth_ voicing, either. When she didn't reach out, he hadn't been sure how to take it. But now… now it felt like this was just confirming all of his worst fears. Now not only was he embarrassed by his actions that night — feeling sure now that she hadn't wanted it — but he was also convinced that what he'd actually done was ruin their friendship.

"Are we…" she trailed off, looking away from him for a moment. Owen waited her out. She looked back at him, before asking hesitantly, in a tone of voice that Owen had never heard from her before, completely lacking any of her usual confidence. "Are we still friends?"

It was Owen's turn to look away. Were they? He wanted to be. No, scratch that, he still wanted more than that. But, could he be her friend after all this? He didn't want to be the one who had ruined it, but he wasn't sure how to be only her friend. Even after their horrible first date, he'd still wanted more. And now he had had it, even if it had been in a limited and pretend capacity. How was he supposed to be okay with less?

Letting out a slow breath, he looked at her. "I don't know."

* * *

_I'm sorry. _😢

IT **IS** CLAWEN. I PROMISE.

(Go cheer yourself up and read **Fifty Shades of Grady** by Elise-Collier and the latest **The Missing Years** chapter — it's back!)


	18. Chapter 18

_Thanks for coming back after last chapter. :P  
_

**Chapter 18**

"Thanks for agreeing to have dinner with me."

Claire nodded politely at James as she sat down opposite him, but she was already second guessing her decision. Why was she there?

It had been over a month since she'd gone out to Owen's place and he'd told her he wasn't sure if they were still friends. The rest of the conversation that evening was a blur. Not that it had lasted all that much longer. She hadn't known what to say in response, biting her tongue to keep herself from begging. She'd left pretty quickly, and she was pretty sure she'd mumbled a comment about how he should let her know if he changed his mind.

She hadn't heard from him since that night. And she didn't want him to think she was pressuring him, so she had kept herself from reaching out. Not even a simple text to just say 'hi' or to ask how the raptors were doing.

Claire had thought it would be pretty easy to settle back into her old life. She kept telling herself that things hadn't changed that much, that _she_ hadn't changed that much. It wasn't true. Claire found it lonely to go home and work from her laptop. She'd find her gaze continually darting to Owen's Xbox that he still hadn't come to reclaim. She'd thrown out the rest of the bottle of tequila the day after but had then found herself picking up a new one. It was shoved to the back of the cupboard and she refused to think about what it meant that she even had it. At least she could generally ignore the bottle's existence — the four remaining beers from a six-pack Owen had brought over were still sitting in her fridge, taunting her.

Still, how all of that had brought her to _this _moment, where she was sitting in Nobu, across from James, left her feeling a bit befuddled. She _knew_ how it had happened. James had been really nice after her breakup. Not that he hadn't been nice to her before. Even though she knew Owen despised him, she'd never had that reaction herself. To Claire, James always just seemed to be trying to do his best at the job he had. She couldn't fault him for that.

While Owen had claimed that James had been hitting on her, except for at the very beginning, before he'd known about Owen, she'd never got that vibe from him. In fact, she'd thought it was very respectful of him, that he waited almost a month after her breakup before he'd mentioned them getting dinner. She had been going to turn him down. She wasn't looking for someone to date. Well, that's not true. She _wanted_ to date, but the person she wanted to date wasn't talking to her, and she wasn't feeling eager to just jump into something else. She'd never been a rebound type of person. And usually, she'd actually feel _better_ after breaking up. But could she even call ending a fake relationship a breakup? Although... Dammit, maybe her sister _was_ right. Had they been dating all along?

It was all Lowery's fault, she realized. If he hadn't been going on about how down she'd seemed recently, and that he hoped she wasn't going to go back to "all work and no play Claire," she never would've said yes to James. She would've felt confident and comfortable in just burying herself in work. His comment, however, had set her teeth on edge and when James had brought up the idea of having dinner the next day, she'd found herself saying yes, followed by a "take _that,_ Lowery" in the back of her mind. The wrong reason to be on a date, for sure. But, too late, there she was.

"I haven't had a chance to check this place out yet," James said, and Claire worked to keep her focus on the conversation.

"This is one of my favourite restaurants," she replied. "Although I generally seem to come here only for business lunches and dinners."

"I hope you don't think tonight is one of those," James said, flashing her a bright smile.

Claire laughed politely and nodded. "It's nice to be here for fun, for a change."

"You and Owen never came here?" James asked, before immediately looking sheepish. "Sorry, don't answer that. I don't know why I even asked." He pulled the menu closer, peering down at it. "To be honest, I don't know much about sushi and so don't really know what to order."

"Nobu has cold and hot dishes, both new and classic. For your first time, I recommend trying the sushi and sashimi. Is there anything you don't eat or is outside of your comfort zone?" Claire asked. She was a little surprised James had chosen this restaurant without having prior sushi experience. Not only was it possibly going to be food he wouldn't like, but it was the most expensive restaurant on the island, usually populated by VIPs and upper management hosting visiting business contacts.

"Don't eat?" James looked down at the menu again before meeting her gaze. "I mean, it's all slightly out of my comfort zone to start with."

"Well, then I think you may want to skip the eel or octopus," Claire said, chuckling lightly at the slight look of disgust that crossed James's face. "You can work up to that. There's also things like tempura and wagyu beef if you want something a little… less raw." Claire explained. James was an attentive companion, listening eagerly to what she had to share and nodding along to her suggestions. She'd actually come to the restaurant once with Owen. He'd suggested that she order for the two of them, and so she'd ordered the premium tasting menu for them to share. It didn't feel right to do that with James, like it'd be crossing a line, although she was sure James would be okay with it.

Once they'd both put in their orders, Claire skillfully changed the topic of conversation to the Indoraptors. Sure, that made it more like work than a date, but who was she really kidding? She didn't want it to be a date. And while she stood by what she'd told Owen, that they couldn't — _shouldn't_ — put their lives on hold anymore over the Indoraptors, that didn't mean she was convinced it was all going to be fine. She'd never had an opportunity to pump James for information before and she wasn't going to waste it now that it was at hand.

"But probably my favourite part so far, is watching their individual personalities develop," James told her. "They're so similar and yet so different. Hopper is definitely the more playful of the two, while with Curie you can just about see her thinking everything through before she acts. I knew they were going to be intelligent but… wow, what they can do just blows me away most days." James just shook his head in awe. "Sorry," he looked down at his meal, before raising his gaze back to her. "Here I am going on and on about my work, and this is supposed to be a date."

"It's fine," Claire reassured him, having been enjoying herself more since they'd switched to this topic.

"You know, I read Owen's reports and I saw him with the raptors and I know I should've expected this. And I did, I do. It just feels sort of humbling when you realize you're helping someone learn and grow and then watching them outpace your expectations." He gave her a grin. "I guess this is maybe what parents feel like."

"Probably, but I wouldn't know," Claire replied. "I've never even had a pet before."

"Not even a goldfish?" he looked shocked.

"Nope," she shrugged. "My parents both worked and so they said there was no time to take care of a pet."

"How'd you end up here? Why not a place like Disney or Six Flags? Or somewhere without live animals?"

"I got an internship here during college," Claire said. "I loved it. At the time, they hadn't even opened yet. We had only eight different species back then, versus the 22 we currently have."

"Wow, you pretty much got to see the whole thing come to life."

"Yeah," Claire nodded. "I, obviously, wasn't involved in a lot of the big decisions at the start. But I got to see how things played out. What worked, what didn't. Mr. Masrani was around a lot more back then, and he seemed to see something in me. He's the reason I am where I am today, because of the opportunities he gave me."

"I've seen you work," James commented, "you're amazing. He wouldn't have given you those opportunities if he didn't think you could handle them."

"Thanks," Claire said with a smile. She knew she'd worked damn hard for every opportunity she'd been given. While Masrani seemed to have seen her worth from the start, not everyone around him had agreed. And as she moved up, Masrani had been starting to spend less time on the island and so it had been the rest that she'd had to prove herself to. She didn't really mind, she was proud of everything she'd accomplished and knew she deserved the role she had. Still, it was always nice to receive praise.

Something about some movement outside the window near them caught Claire's attention and she turned briefly to look out, curious as to what it was. There had been a relatively steady stream of guests walking by the window all evening, so she had mostly tuned it out. But now, turning, her gaze caught on Owen, who was standing at the window staring in, staring at her. Their eyes locked for the briefest of moments, before Owen abruptly turned, disappearing into the crowd around him. It happened so fast, that Claire almost wasn't sure that it really was him that she'd seen.

"Are you okay?" James's voice broke through, and Claire turned back to him, pasting a smile back on her face. "You look like you saw a ghost."

"Nothing like that," Claire said, trying not to let her internal panic show. She knew what this would look like to Owen and, even worse, he wouldn't be wrong. She knew it shouldn't matter, that she shouldn't care. They weren't together, she didn't owe him anything, and, even if she had, Owen didn't want more. Except _she_ did — she cared and she wanted more.

She fought her instinct to bolt out of the restaurant, to chase after him. She was there for a reason, she reminded herself. It was time to move on. Owen didn't want to be friends. He'd made his choice. He could think whatever he wanted. She wasn't doing anything wrong.

o-o-o

"What's wrong you today? Huh? We've done this drill a thousand times. You girls _know_ what I'm asking," Owen shouted down into the paddock. "For the love of g–" he was cut off by a hand yanking him away from the railing. He spun in a circle, surprised to see Barry barely a step away. "What?!" he snarled.

"What the hell is wrong with _you_?" Barry hissed, finger poking Owen in the chest. "What's gotten into you? This isn't like you. You _know_ that yelling isn't going to improve anything. It's just making things worse."

As if to prove Barry's point, the raptors down below were hissing and snarling, throwing angry glares up at the catwalk above. Owen scrubbed his face with his hands, heaving a sigh. He couldn't seem to get his emotions under control. He thought he had been doing better. He _had_ been doing better. Why did he have to go into the park last night? If he'd just stayed home…

"You can't do this, Owen," Barry said, moving to the bucket of rats hanging on the railing. Owen just watched, silently and without protest, as Barry gave each of the raptors a treat before dismissing them. "Seriously, what's going on?"

"Nothing," Owen grumbled, pushing past his friend and heading off the catwalk. He needed to get out of there. He was chock full of energy that needed an outlet, and since his latest method of getting rid of it (although, really not an ideal choice) had now been removed, he needed to find something else.

"It's not nothing," Barry said and Owen glanced over to see his friend following him. Owen picked up his pace, trying to get away. Couldn't Barry tell he just wanted to be left alone? After all, if Barry hadn't suggested they go for beers last night Owen wouldn't have been on Main Street, and he wouldn't have walked by Nobu, and he would still be blissfully ignorant over the fact that Claire had so easily moved on.

They hadn't actually dated. He knew that. He did, really. But… couldn't she have at least chosen someone else to go out with? It had felt like a sucker punch when he'd glanced through the window and spotted them at the table. He'd frozen in place, not sure if he could believe what he was seeing. He'd tried to dismiss it as just being a business meeting. He knew she liked going to Nobu for those. But… he knew what business Claire looked like, and last night hadn't been it. There was no business suit in sight. But, even more so, there was none of the slightly stiff posture that she usually maintained in business settings. She had looked relaxed and had been smiling. She had looked happy.

And _that_ was what had really got to him. Here he was, seemingly unable to move on, to put everything they had done behind him and she was fucking fine. More than fine. Happy.

Storming towards the office building, Owen yanked the door open letting it slam into the wall with a satisfying bang. In his office he grabbed his keys and his phone. There was no way he could stay around there. Not now.

"Whoa, I don't think so," Barry stood in the doorway when Owen turned to leave. "Hand the keys over."

"What? Why?" Owen clutched them tighter.

"If you don't want to tell me what's made you so pissed off, that's fine," Barry said, hand held out in front of him. "But there's no way I'm letting you get on your motorcycle like this. I don't want to be the one who has to face Claire if you wrap yourself around a tree."

"Like she'd care," Owen muttered bitterly. "Probably'd be relieved."

"_Quoi? Absolument pas!_ _Pas vrai_," Barry shook his head. "Does this have something to do with why you never showed up last night?"

"It doesn't matter," Owen sighed, taking a step back so he could sit on the edge of his desk, head hanging down. "I just… Why'd it have to be James?"

There was a long pause before Barry said slowly, clearly not quite believing what Owen was saying, "Are you saying Claire was on a date with James?"

Owen nodded, not looking up at his friend. "I saw them. At Nobu."

"Are you sure it wasn't a business dinner? I thought you said that's where she likes to have them," Barry tried to be the voice of reason.

"Trust me, it wasn't," Owen replied, continuing before Barry could argue back. "I know Claire. That wasn't meeting Claire. She's always liked James and he's always liked her. I should've expected this..." Owen rubbed his face with one hand, groaning. Now that he'd said that, he was realizing how true it was. Apparently James was going to get to live what should be his life. How fucking fantastic.

"Well…" Barry started, before falling silent. Owen finally raised his gaze to look at him. Barry just held out his hand again. "If you want to get out of here for a bit, that's fine. Take the rest of the day, I'll deal with the girls. But, I'm still not letting you take your motorcycle."

"What, I'm supposed to just walk home?" Owen asked, not at all enthused by the idea.

"If you want," Barry shrugged. "Or I'll give you a ride and pick you up tomorrow. Think of it this way — you can get hammered with the safety of knowing you can't do something stupid, like show up at her door."

"I don't want to get drunk," Owen groaned, but handed his keys over anyway. "I tried that last night."

"Well, maybe go fish or something," Barry shrugged. "Or lie in your hammock. I don't care what you do. Just get yourself together. You can't be training the raptors like this."

Owen briefly contemplated fishing, but it was just another activity at his place that he now associated with Claire. He hadn't been able to climb into his hammock since they broke up. He finally understood why people always said dating people at work was a bad idea. There was no escape and everything felt tainted.

But Barry was right. He needed to get it together. It had never been real. He shouldn't be reacting like this. She'd moved on. It was past time he did, too.

o-o-o

"Merry Christmas," Claire greeted her sister, putting on as large a smile as she could muster, knowing that Karen would be scrutinizing her over the somewhat iffy quality Facetime call.

"Merry Christmas, Claire," Karen called back, an actual legitimately bright smile on her face. "Let me get the boys to say 'hi.'" The camera view changed, and Claire watched as the phone was carried into the living room of Karen's house, catching briefly on a tall Christmas tree, drooping under the weight of its ornaments, and then sweeping across the room, scraps of colourful wrapping paper still scattered about. It came to a stop on the couch where Gray was curled up in a corner, nose buried in a book. "Gray, it's Aunt Claire."

"Hi, Aunt Claire! Merry Christmas. Thanks for the books," Gray said, briefly putting his book down. "I've already started this one," he held up the book he was reading, but it was too fast for Claire to pick out the title, "and it's so fascinating. Did you know that–"

"Whoa, Gray," his mom laughed. "Take a breath."

"Merry Christmas, Gray. Enjoy the books," Claire said, but the camera was already on the move again, swinging around towards an easy chair where Zach was sitting, hunched forward, game controller in his lap.

"Zach, say hi," Karen nudged him. He didn't say anything, to focused on his game, and Karen prodded him again. "You can take 20 seconds to say hi to your aunt."

With a heavy, overly-dramatic teenage sigh, Zach paused his game and looked towards the phone, grumbling out, "Hi, Aunt Claire. Thanks for the game. I _was_ playing it." Claire caught the roll of his eyes as he looked at his mom.

"Merry Christmas, Zach," Claire replied with a slight chuckle. "Glad you're enjoying it." She had already forgotten the gifts she'd sent them, having purchased them months ago. Purchased with the assistance of Owen, who she'd prodded to help her so she could send something that _wasn't_ a gift card this year. Wincing, she didn't realize the camera view had changed, until Karen spoke up.

"What's wrong?" Karen asked, peering at her quizzically through the camera.

"Nothing," Claire smiled again. "It's Christmas? What would be wrong?"

"Claire…" Karen said, ending on a sigh. The screen jostled for a bit, and Claire listened as her sister moved through the house, settling onto a couch in a different room. "Okay, it's just me. What's up?"

"I've never really liked the holidays, you know that," Claire said. "It's nothing. Looking forward to the new year."

"Well, you're not alone this year, right? What are you and Owen doing today?" Karen asked, and Claire would've been happy that her sister was letting the topic go, if not for the new one she'd chosen. While it had been almost two months since she and Owen had ended things, Claire had mostly avoided her sister, knowing Owen would be an inevitable topic of conversation. When they had talked, she'd been able to keep the conversations short enough that he'd never had a chance to come up.

"Oh," Claire couldn't help it, the smile falling from her face as a frown took over. "That's over."

"Really?" Karen's surprise was genuine. "What happened? I thought things were going well?"

Claire stayed quiet, not sure how to answer that question. Her sister knew it was fake, after all. Going with a generic "things just didn't work out" wasn't going to work. As it was, she was still surprised her sister hadn't pushed for more details as to _why_ exactly they were having a fake relationship in the first place and had instead accepted her excuse that she couldn't say more.

"Nothing happened," Claire finally said, the silence having stretched her to a breaking point. She'd always hated that about her sister. Karen was comfortable to just sit silently until whoever she was facing off with finally felt compelled to talk. "We just decided that it was time to end it." It felt better if she said it was mutual. She may have been the one who initiated it, but Owen had never disagreed. And nothing _had_ happened — at least, not until after they'd agreed to end it. But even the almost kiss had clearly been a mistake.

"Are you okay?" Karen asked, and the sympathy in her voice was nearly Claire's undoing. Sure, Zara had tiptoed around her carefully the first week after she'd found out, but that had been the extent of it. Instead, Claire had pretended everything was fine, putting a new meaning to "fake it 'til you make it."

"I didn't realize how hard it would be," she found herself admitting. She blinked rapidly, feeling tears gathering in the corners of her eyes, annoying her. She'd managed to make it this far without breaking down. Surely, she could make it through this conversation. "I mean, it was _fake_. It should be easy to just go back to how things were."

"Oh, Claire," Karen said, her voice soft, and it finally broke the tenuous hold Claire had, her tears breaking through. She used her shirt sleeve to rub them away. "No, don't cry," Karen said. "I didn't mean to make you cry. Not on Christmas."

"I feel so stupid," Claire said, moving through her place in search of a kleenex. "I don't even know why I'm crying. It's not even recent."

"How long ago did this happen? Why didn't you tell me?" Karen demanded, but Claire just shrugged, blowing her nose and trying to wipe her tears away. "I wish you would've come out," Karen said. "I would've bugged you more if I had known. You shouldn't be alone. Not on Christmas."

"I know," Claire said. "I didn't want you to know. I just wanted to move on. I hate this so much. I hate feeling this way. So stupid, too. I was fine before. I should be fine now."

"Claire–"

"And _he's_ obviously fine. It doesn't seem to be bothering him one bit." Claire winced, hating the bitterness that was clear in her tone.

"Have you seen him? Since it happened?"

"Just once," Claire admitted. She still couldn't get the image of him standing at the window of Nobu out of her mind. "When I was–"

"When you were what?"

"On a date," Claire said, bracing for Karen's response.

There was a long pause before Karen finally said, "I wish I could give you a hug."

"I–" Claire didn't know how to respond to that.

"You know it's okay to feel crappy, right? That happens after break-ups."

"We weren't dating, you can't break up with someone you weren't dating," Claire said, although she knew it was a weak defense.

"Are you seriously that blind?" Karen groaned. "At least admit to me that it wasn't all fake. You gave him a _key_, Claire. You've never been that comfortable with anyone else before. Not even friends, so don't try that line on me."

"It doesn't matter anymore, it's all over and done with," Claire said. "And, even if I want–wanted more, he doesn't."

"Do I need to come down there and beat him up?" Karen joked, and Claire finally gave her sister a hint of a smile.

"No, I'll be fine. But, speaking of coming down here… why don't you this year? You've never been. You could bring the boys back."

"Maybe," Karen hedged. "Let me think it over. I still have to sort out holidays with Scott for next year."

"At least you got them for Christmas."

"Yeah, although they go over to Scott's tomorrow," Karen replied. "Speaking of them, I should probably get back out there. I need to get started on dinner anyway."

"Okay," Claire nodded. "Thanks for the call."

"Merry Christmas, Claire. Miss you and love you," Karen said.

"You too," Claire smiled back, her smile finally genuine again.

Hanging up, she wandered over to her windows, looking out over the park. Even from up high, the Christmas decorations were apparent. They never fit, in her mind, both with the tropical weather and the dinosaurs. Turning away from the window, she headed back to her couch and her laptop. With nothing else to do, she might as well get some work done. At least it was the one day of the year she could count on her inbox not filling up faster than she could empty it.

o-o-o

"We need to talk about a field test," Hoskins stated firmly, standing beside Owen on the catwalk.

"No, we don't," Owen disagreed just as firmly.

"They're four years old. No one's buying your line that it's too soon anymore. Progress has been slowing lately."

"We're continuing to make steady progress. A field test isn't going to speed that up." Owen gripped the raining in front of him tighter, knowing that no matter what he said, it wasn't going to make a difference. It didn't help that he no longer completely believed what he was saying. Recently, it felt like he just couldn't catch a break, between Claire and James and now Hoskins? Could he just get a couple of weeks of peace? A couple of weeks where no one was pressuring him or his raptors? It was the holidays after all, surely people could back off for a little bit.

"You've said it yourself, there's information you can't get while they're stuck in the paddock. It's no longer a question of _if_ there's a field test, it's now a question of when," Hoskins told him.

"And just where do you picture this field test happening?" Owen asked. "There's no way we can let the raptors loose on the island. Not with all these guests around. Not only is it insane, but there's no way that Clai– that Masrani would allow it."

"I'll work out those details. You just need to get them ready."

"Once they get a taste of freedom…" Owen trailed off. He pushed away from the railing, moving past Hoskins. "They've lived in the paddock their whole lives. While they're mostly content here, that's never stopped them from trying to escape. When they know what they're missing… I don't know how you ever expect them to be happy here afterwards. How you think we'll ever be able to keep them contained."

"That's your job," Hoskins shrugged. "Besides, they haven't escaped yet."

Owen just shook his head, not bothering to respond. Hoskins was never going to get it. Or, he did, but he would always refuse to accept it. Hoskin's job depended on him disagreeing with the reality that Owen was proposing. But, Owen also knew that Hoskins was right, even if he hated to admit it. He was still amazed that he'd managed to delay them this long on the field test. And the truth was, he wasn't sure there was much more he could do in the paddock. He was running out of ideas for games and drills. The raptors had mastered what he'd taught them, even if it wasn't always apparent. Their failures to follow through were much more a result of their choices now than a lack of understanding. They were exerting their own version of free will. Showing them what freedom _could_ mean was just going to increase their appetite for it.

"I got to give them something," Hoskins spoke up again, grabbing Owen's attention back. "The higher ups, I mean. They've been following the Indoraptors progress and they're starting to second guess if IBRIS is worth continuing to fund."

"You're going to kill the project?" Owen stopped dead in his tracks, hands on his hips as he stared at Hoskins, who groaned and turned to face him.

"_I'm_ not," Hoskins said. "I'm just telling you what's been said. You want to keep this project alive, you want to keep those _raptors_ alive, figure out a field test. Give me _something_."

Hoskins didn't wait for an answer as he turned and walked away. But Owen was glad, because he didn't know what he'd say. The end of IBRIS? The end of his girls? He felt sick. He knew that IBRIS would come to an end at some point, but he'd never really thought of what that would mean for the raptors. Hadn't wanted to think about it, really, because he knew there were only ever two options — they become an attraction or they were put down. They were too expensive an asset to continue to feed and keep alive if they weren't generating _something_ for InGen or Jurassic World. Both options made his stomach churn. They deserved better.

"_Quoi d'neuf_?" Barry asked, approaching Owen where he was still standing in shock. "What did Hoksins want this time?"

"He's pushing for a field test again," Owen sighed. "I don't know that I can put it off much longer. He's talking about the end of IBRIS."

"_Vraiment!_"

"Yep," Owen nodded. "Says with the Indoraptors and the lack of progress we're making, that we need something big, preferably a field test, to keep the project alive." He groaned, a hand coming up to pinch the bridge of his nose. "He's not wrong. About the progress, I mean. We're reaching their limits."

"_Oui_," Barry nodded. "But a field test? Where?"

"That's the million dollar question," Owen chuckled bitterly. "There's no way they'll allow it here."

"I hope not," Barry agreed. "It's stupid enough in the first place, but to do it on an island covered in guests? That's just asking for something to go wrong."

"Have you been… have you been following what's happening with the Indoraptors?" Owen asked. He had been trying as hard as he could to ignore anything to do with them. He was finding it too much trying to deal with the Indoraptors, his girls and not thinking about Claire. In the end, he'd realized he only had enough energy to deal with two and the Indoraptors drew the short straw.

"I hear bits here and there," Barry said. "I'm not following it closely, but there's been more and more coming out. They're growing pretty fast. They're definitely going to be bigger than our girls."

"Hmm."

"But," Barry pulled out his phone and pulled up a video. "That's not the most interesting part." He handed his phone over to Owen. "Watch this. I don't know who took it or started passing it around."

Holding the phone, Owen watched in silence as the two Indoraptors were cavorting around their paddock. He'd heard Claire's description of them after they'd hatched. Had even seen a couple of photos when they were just a couple of weeks old. But, now at just over three months old, they had already doubled in size. The clip was short, and when it finished, he immediately restarted it, focusing instead on what they were doing, having been too caught up on what they looked like the first time around. He watched as one picked up a ball, before chucking it at the other, who pounced on it. He was starting the clip for a third time when Barry spoke up again.

"I didn't even notice it at first."

"Is that one… is she picking it up with her _claws_?" Owen asked, looking up from the phone to stare at Barry with wide eyes. "Do they have _opposable_ _thumbs_?"

* * *

_Did anyone else notice the opposable thumbs in FK? Watch when it's standing on the top of the Triceratops skull. It grabs two of the horns. Such a creepy "dinosaur." _

_(Yes, it will be clawen. They need a bit of time for perspective. And for other plot bits to move forward. Trust me.)_


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

Even though this wasn't her first visit to Paddock 11 — it wasn't even her first visit since the Indoraptors had been moved out there — every time she arrived, Claire felt a shudder run through her. They'd done a lot of construction to get it ready for the Indoraptors, and in many ways, it no longer looked like it did when the Indominus was still there, but she couldn't shake those memories.

When she'd walk into the viewing area now, she found herself avoiding the area where the Indominus had broken through. Not that any evidence of that remained. She knew it was an irrational fear to think that if she stepped into that area that the floor would give way below her and she'd end up in the paddock. She _knew_ that. But it didn't make it go away.

At just over four months old, the Indoraptors were growing steadily, both having surpassed four feet from head to tail. She'd asked Henry one day about their expected final size and he had hemmed and hawed, before saying bigger than the raptors, but not as big as the T. rex but that he couldn't be more specific. Claire wished she could ask Owen how big the raptors were at this age. Maybe that would help her estimate the final size of the Indoraptors.

Today's visit was to meet up with a couple of engineers and ACU members to examine the paddock. James had raised some concerns about the Indoraptors climbing abilities and whether the paddock would be able to keep them contained. Claire was hoping that the recommended changes wouldn't be too costly. While she'd been slowly working a few potential investors, companies were a lot more cautious after the Indominus and she wasn't as hopeful for a big payout.

It didn't help that _she_ was nervous about presenting the Indoraptors. Every time she saw them, every time she visited, a cold tendril of fear would snake its way up her spine. Part of her almost wished that something would happen. Not that she wanted someone to get injured or the Indoraptors to get loose. But if something happened, then she'd feel justified in her fear. And maybe, possibly, she would have a reason to reach out to Owen, a reason to break the silence.

Although… No. She wasn't going to. That door had been slammed shut by him, and she would respect his decision, no matter how much it still sucked. She hadn't seen him since the glimpse she'd caught on her single date with James. It felt like things were back to the way they were before she'd had that first crappy date with Owen — when she'd been aware of his existence, but their paths never crossed. She guessed it was a fitting way for things to end, coming full circle.

Standing in the viewing area by the windows, she couldn't help but keep looking for the Indoraptors. She didn't want to see them. Except _not_ seeing them felt almost worse, because she couldn't be sure they were in there (even if the screen on the wall showed two dots representing their current locations).

"So I think we need to rethink the catwalk plan," the engineer was saying when Claire tuned back in, the ACU men nodding in agreement. "The current design requires a few support posts to be erected, but I don't know that we can guarantee they won't be able to climb them."

"I do like the idea of expanding the catwalk around the whole perimeter," one of the ACU men spoke up. "And I'd like to have a minimum of four lookout 'stations' along it, so we can have good coverage into the whole pad–"

"We need a catwalk over the center. I can't only train from the sides," James argued, interrupting. "Once I can no longer go in there, I need them to still feel like I'm as close to being with them as possible."

"Maybe we can consider some sort of cantilever design," the engineer said, making notes on a pad of paper. "Or, even better, a suspension system." He moved closer to the window, looking up at the top of the walls. "We'd have to add to the walls for either though. I don't think they could support it as is."

"What are we looking at in terms of timeline and cost?" Claire asked, joining the conversation. "The Indoraptors are growing quickly. We want the construction to be done before there are any chances of them interfering with it."

"Oh, they won't be a problem," James dismissed her concerns. "The training is going great so far. They're very well behaved. They've never even attempted to hurt me."

"While you've been around the Indoraptors from their birth, you haven't been here all that long," Claire reminded him. "So you'll have to forgive me for not assuming that behaviour and courtesy will be extended to anyone else. Our experience has taught us otherwise." Looking away from him, she refocused on the engineer. "So, you were saying?"

"Well, I need to get a better look at the outside, and it really depends on the final design we want, how much coverage over the paddock,' the engineer started, and Claire listened carefully, taking her own notes and asking for clarifications and additional information.

Both too soon and not soon enough, they were wrapping up and heading back out of the viewing area. At the base, she watched as the ACU men and the engineer headed off in one direction to get a better look at some of the outer walls and potential anchoring points, before walking back towards her car.

"You know, you're a hard person to get a hold of," James said. Startled she looked over at him, she hadn't realized he had followed her, assuming he'd left with the others.

"Not that hard," Claire disagreed.

"Does that mean you're avoiding me?" James asked, pausing by her driver's side door. From the way he'd positioned himself, Claire couldn't open her door and slip away.

"Not avoiding. Just busy," Claire shrugged.

"So, how about that second date?" James leaned a bit closer to her and Claire forced herself not to take a step back.

"We already talked about this," Claire sighed. "It's not going to happen."

"Why not? I thought we had a good time?"

"It was… fine," Claire said with a slight hesitation. And it had been, once they got to talking about the Indoraptors and she'd been able to think of it as just another business dinner. All it had done — especially after she'd seen Owen — was just illustrate how much she didn't want to date James. That while he seemed like a nice and decent enough guy, he wasn't who she wanted, and it wasn't fair to him or her. "James, you're a nice guy, but I really don't think we're right together."

"I guess you're still not over Owen," James said, and Claire had to hide her groan. Even if she wasn't (and, yeah, she _wasn't_), it didn't mean she'd just settle for James instead. "I'll give you some more time."

Claire clamped her mouth shut, keeping herself from saying what she _really_ wanted to say, as he finally stepped aside and she was able to open her car door and slip inside. She was just about to close it when he moved closer again.

"You should come back and see Hopper and Curie," James said, bending over a bit so he wasn't towering above. "I think you'd get a kick out of them."

"I will, another day," Claire said, forcing a polite smile onto her face. "See you later, James."

When he backed away, she closed her door and turned on the car, peeling out of the lot before he could attempt to stall her again. _This_, she reminded herself, is why on island relationships and dating were a bad idea. Owen she could at least avoid, but not James. She just needed to survive until the exhibit opened just before Christmas. It was going to be a long year. But, she could make it. She hoped.

o-o-o

"Spread out," Owen commanded, watching proudly as the raptors moved from roughly standing together in a line to placing some space between themselves. "C'mon, Charlie, move away from Delta," Owen reminded the raptor. Charlie didn't seem to have as good an eye for estimating distance and she always ended up a little too close to another raptor. He watched as the other three raptors all looked at Charlie, Blue barking out a command, before Charlie huffed and took a couple more steps to the side. "Good job," Owen praised them. He grabbed a rat and started doling them out.

Just as he tossed the final rat to Blue, the sound of clapping startled him, and the raptors below. He watched as they all tilted their heads, looking at the catwalk behind him. That was odd. It wasn't unusual for others to be on the outer catwalks while he was training, but even when they'd clap or cheer in the past, the raptors had chosen to ignore them, knowing that Owen was their focus.

Turning around, Owen was annoyed to see Hoskins was standing there. But he wasn't alone. With him was Masrani and Stephen Parker, who Owen knew was Hoskins's boss over at InGen. He wondered what they were doing. Something, he supposed, he was about to find out, as Hoskins caught his eye and waved him over. Owen held up a finger indicating he needed a minute, before turning back to the raptors.

"Eyes up," he asked and, somewhat reluctantly, they all looked up at him. He paused to make sure he really had their attention before he dismissed them, "And go." He watched, a little surprised when they didn't immediately disappear back into the jungle, instead turning their gazes back to the men behind him. Sighing, he turned and headed over, pulling out the rag he kept tucked in his back pocket and wiping his hands as he walked. He knew he couldn't avoid them.

"Mr. Masrani, Mr. Parker, Hoskins," Owen greeted them, reaching out and shaking their hands. He hid his smirk when he watched Parker hesitate, but after Masrani shook no problem, Parker did so too. "What brings you all out here?"

"We were having a meeting about the field test," Hoskins said, "and I realized that they hadn't been out to see the raptors in a while so we thought it'd be a good time to stop by. Looks like you are having a good day today."

"We are," Owen nodded, not sure what to think. Even though it had been a couple of months since Hoskins had pushed him on the field test, he knew it hadn't been dropped. Hoskins had been too insistent last time over it. Owen had just been hoping that all the red tape and difficulties in trying to sort it out would eventually convince Hoskins to throw in the towel. But if he was talking to Parker and Masrani about it, it definitely was still in the works. Owen decided to wait them out, not sure where the conversation was going to go.

"Hoskins has told us that you're against the idea of a field test," Parker spoke up first, and Owen hid his wince. While true, he didn't really want to expand on his own position without knowing theirs.

"It's not that I don't think a field test would provide new information," Owen said carefully. He knew it would, it was just that he didn't like what he foresaw as happening after the test. "It's the after effects that I'm more focused on. The raptors have been in this paddock for over three years now and they still try to escape weekly, and they don't even know what's outside their walls. They just know that they wouldn't be contained. Once they have that knowledge, have that taste of freedom, it'll change their motivation. I know they haven't escaped yet, but I'm not entirely convinced it's because they can't."

"You think they're choosing to stay contained?" Masrani asked, his gaze darting around the paddock, as if expecting to see a raptor halfway out.

"Sort of," Owen said. "More that they're continually testing the system. Trying to find the weak spots. Every attempt is a little different. And sometimes I _know_ they should already know it won't work. You have to understand just how smart these raptors are. I think many times they're not actually trying to get out, they're instead testing a smaller component of a bigger plan." Owen paused, trying to think of a good example. "Think of it like ordering your favourite burger, but each time you swap out just one ingredient. At first, you're still getting a burger, just maybe with tomato instead of bacon. Eventually, as you start to piece together those changes, those swaps, you can build something completely different."

"Hmm," Masrani hummed, nodding along with the explanation.

Owen looked over at Hoskins who didn't look happy, before his gaze moved to Parker who was standing at the railing staring into the paddock. The raptors had finally got bored with the new company and had disappeared from sight, but that didn't seem to bother Parker.

"The main concern we have with the field test right now," Parker said, finally turning to look at Owen again, "is logistics. There's nowhere on the island where we can hold it. So we're having to think more broadly, which, of course, introduces new issues in how we'd even transport the raptors off island, must less find an ideal location."

Owen nodded, not sure what he could say or offer up. He definitely didn't want to volunteer to help with any of that.

"I know you're not excited by this idea," Hoskins said. "But, you've gotta understand, we need to move this project forward. It's becoming clear that we're reaching the limits of what you can do here."

"We're still making progress," Owen immediately protested.

"Right, but it's slowed down even more than before," Hoskins said, and Owen knew he was right. "And at the same time, we've now got the Indoraptors and the work that James is doing. There are other avenues to explore."

"Wait, wait, wait," Owen held up a hand. "The Indoraptors are just an attraction. That's not the same as what I'm doing at all."

"Have you seen them?" Parker asked. "The gains James is making are very impressive. I think they would give your raptors a run for their money."

"They're still babies!"

"Right, so just think of where they'll be in a year!" Hoskins was practically giddy with glee. Owen felt his stomach drop. He didn't want to think about them getting bigger, getting _smarter_.

"At this point," Masrani interrupted, "we need to start thinking about a long term plan for the raptors. IBRIS was never going to last forever. While I know the plan is to still pursue a field test, it is time to start thinking about what should happen to the raptors next."

"Nothing," Owen muttered, but he kept it low and except for Hoskins's eyes darting towards him, he was pretty sure the others hadn't heard him.

"There are two options that I see," Masrani continued. "Either the mandate of the research project changes, and a new one starts, or, they become a new attraction at the park. With all their training I imagine they could put on quite a sho–"

"No way," Owen couldn't help his reaction, the words spilling forth. "They are never going to be an attraction. Never. They're too good for that. They'd never put up with it."

"Whoa," Hoskins stepped forward, putting a hand in front of Owen. "That's not your decision to make." Hoskins turned to look at Masrani. "While I do still want to explore the field test and I don't think we should write it off yet, there have been other areas under consideration for research."

"Oh?" Owen said, his interest piqued. He hadn't heard that before.

"We've seen some interesting requests for proposals coming out of the Department of Defense among other sources," Parker added. "We're considering how and if the raptors may be of use there."

"Military?" Owen's jaw dropped, although why he was surprised, he didn't know. The topic had come up before and he already ran drills with the raptors that he knew were more military focused than strictly about evaluating their intelligence.

"That's a possibility," Parker said mildly.

"We are not turning this island into a military test range," Masrani said, his brow furrowed.

"No, nothing like that," Parker agreed. "Everything is still in the idea stage. But it'll be something that needs to be discussed more thoroughly. And, as we look at possibly moving the raptors off island anyway, it may be time to consider if Nublar remains the right home for them."

Owen found his gaze just jumping between the three other men, too stunned to say anything. The raptors might be leaving Nublar? Did that mean _he_ would be going? His contract was specific to the IBRIS project. If there was a new research project, would it include him? They wouldn't have to. The idea of his girls under the control of someone else, of being used, somehow, for the military made his gut churn.

He wanted someone to talk to. Someone who would listen as he vented about everything he was hearing. Someone who would be able to calm his racing mind and be a voice of reason. Someone who had an idea of how decisions were made at those levels. Barry would just freak out with him, Owen knew that. He couldn't put this on his friend. Not yet, not when there was still so much unknown and up in the air. He knew who would be best to talk to. But… that bridge was burned. He was going to have to deal with this himself.

o-o-o

Nursing his beer, Owen was reminded of the old saying "it's five o'clock somewhere." Not that he really cared that it was barely even four and he was drinking a beer. What did it matter, anyway? Who was going to judge him? The tourists surrounding him who were doing the exact same thing?

Shifting in his seat, he refocused his gaze out the window, watching the steady stream of people going by. He was feeling morose and had initially planned on just hiding away at his place for the day. But, deciding that that would likely make him feel worse, he'd chosen instead to hide out among the tourists, hoping to disappear in the sea of people, just another face in the crowd. It was working, sort of. He did feel mostly invisible, but he wasn't really feeling any better.

The past week it felt like all anyone talked about was the "big wedding" that was happening today. He'd tried to ignore it. He didn't really get why people were so interested in it, it wasn't like it was some famous celebrity or billionaire, it was just Claire's assistant. The wedding wasn't even going to be all that big. But, there was really nothing else to gossip about lately on the island. Not even the Indoraptors were making all that much news. They were still growing and learning, but there were only so many times people could rave about them before it got repetitive.

Still, the reminder of the wedding had just reminded _him_ of seeing the save the date card and then wanting to bang his head against a wall when he remembered telling Claire he'd be her plus one. It had been an innocent remark, made without any thought about how far away the wedding was. A remark he'd immediately forgotten about when she'd presented him with a drawer. But now, all he could think about was, who _was_ her plus one?

He hadn't heard anything about her and James after he saw them out that one night. But he didn't actually know if that meant anything. The only reason he and Claire had ever been out in public during their "dating" period was because they had _wanted_ people to talk about it, to keep up the pretense. If she was _really_ dating James, she might not actually want that. Actually, he was fairly sure she _wouldn't_ want that, that she'd prefer to keep her private life private. So far, he'd managed to keep himself from asking around to see if anyone knew. Ignorance was bliss, or so he kept telling himself.

A shock of red hair caught his attention, and he was surprised to see Claire hurrying along outside the window. He hadn't seen her in months — had managed to not cross paths with her since seeing her on her date — and he took the opportunity to watch her. She looked good, not that he expected her to not. And different. It took him a moment to realize he'd only ever really seen in her in two modes before: dressed for business or relaxed at home. Well, and the twice he'd seen her dressed for a date, but he'd been too shocked by James's presence he couldn't remember what she'd been wearing that day.

This was the first time he'd ever seen her dressed for a fancy occasion, hair up and in a pink strapless satin dress that stopped just above her knees. Taking advantage of the fact she couldn't see him, he let his gaze slowly drift down her body, enjoying the way the dress hugged her curves. Her business suits always seemed to consist of loose blouses that were light and airy, and when she'd relax at home, it was always oversized t-shirts and sweatpants. Not only was the dress leaving little to his imagination, when it ended, her legs seemed to stretch on forever before ending in heels. He'd never really thought much about women's shoes before, but with Claire, he'd found he'd become partial to heels.

Something must have caught her attention, as she paused in the middle of the road to look over her shoulder, and Owen quickly turned back to his beer, afraid she'd somehow seen him watching. A moment later, he looked back and saw that she was looking down the road, as if waiting for someone. It didn't take long before whoever she was waiting for to come into view.

James.

Part of him felt like he should've expected it. But, it hurt just the same. He tore his gaze away from the window, not wanting to see her greet him. Not wanting to see what he knew would come next, James kissing her.

Picking up his beer he downed the rest of it and then waved towards the bartender. After his replacement arrived and he downed it, he risked a glance out the window again, but Claire was no longer in sight.

o-o-o

Sitting at her assigned seat, Claire observed the other wedding guests as they milled about. The main dinner was over and a few couples were on the dance floor. So far, she'd been able to avoid having to join in herself. As it was, she only knew a few of the guests, and even then, it was more accurate to just say she knew who they were — mostly friends of Alec's through his work in the ACU. People she knew of, but not people she'd ever worked closely with.

She wasn't sure if she was relieved that Zara's wedding was small, or if it would've been better larger. There were benefits to both, she knew. She just wished she hadn't ended up at what was clearly the "single/work colleagues" table. She'd tried hard to ignore Zara's wink when she'd seen her earlier and Zara had said that she should check out who she was sitting next to. She knew it was partly the wedding fever her assistant was under, so happy and in love herself she wanted everyone else to share in it. But, the last thing Claire was looking for was a brief fling with someone at the wedding. Even less so when she'd realized the person Zara had hinted at was an ACU member. Claire had sworn off relationships with anyone based on the island. Just because Zara and Alec had worked out… No, Claire had been down that path.

As it was, she was struggling to keep a smile on her face and pretend she was enjoying herself. She kept — surreptitiously — checking her phone, wishing that a work emergency would come up and she could get out of there. That, and checking the time. She wondered how late she needed to stay to be polite.

Earlier, before the ceremony, Zara had sent her on a last minute mission to track down an emergency sewing kit from the hotel (a groomsman had a bit of a pants malfunction). As Claire had rushed through the park, she'd heard her name called and it had stopped her in her tracks. She had thought, for a split second, that it was Owen she'd heard. Her heart had been beating faster as she'd turned to see who had called her. But no, instead it had been James hurrying to catch up to her. She'd managed to keep her smile from dropping, but her heart had sunk anyway.

Dammit, she wished Owen had never seen the save the date card. Why had he felt the need to say he'd be her plus one, all those months ago? And that it would be _fun_ with him? It felt like just another blow to the day, to know that he wasn't there, and to know that she wasn't having fun. It had been months since she'd run into Owen; since she'd had a chance to talk to him. She wasn't even sure what she'd say now, except that it felt crystal clear that friends was something they no longer were. And yet, that didn't stop her from wishing he was at the wedding with her.

To her frustration, James hadn't even wanted anything specific. More he'd seen her and had assumed she'd have time to talk with him. When she'd figured that out, she'd continued forward on her mission, but James had just kept pace beside her. It had taken her a long time to finally shake him, the guy clearly not getting her hints to leave her alone. She was probably going to have to start being more blunt, which, given her luck, would just result in rumours and things getting worse. Why couldn't men understand that just because you weren't dating someone that didn't mean you were "available"?

She didn't actually have anything really against James. And maybe in another lifetime, in an alternate universe, he would've been someone she'd date. Claire had thought of him as good looking and a nice enough guy (although his more recent behaviour was making her question that). It was just that when she interacted with him, whether on their one date or any time since, it had just emphasized how different it felt from when she'd been around Owen. With Owen, she'd never felt the need to be more than who she was. It was easy, comfortable, _natural_. With James, she found herself forcing smiles and putting on a fake pretense. It was a reaction she recognized from previous dates and boyfriends, and not something she wanted to repeat. Not after knowing that it _could_ be different, that it didn't have to be that way.

"May I have this dance?"

Claire looked up, startled when she felt the tap on her shoulder and then heard the words at her side. She saw the man she'd been sitting next to all evening had returned and was holding out his hand. She wanted to say no, but, honestly, wasn't sure how to do so politely. Behind him, she could see Zara grinning at her and giving her a thumbs up. Sighing internally, Claire accepted the hand and let him pull her up. One dance. She could survive one dance.

* * *

_So far, the Indoraptors are growing and thriving. They've got a trainer. They've got each other. Things will be better, right? ;) _

_Next chapter Claire and Owen finally start to talk. Sort of. _

_Oh, and it will be 28 chapters (plus possibly an epilogue). I'm working on 27/28 right now. And honing in on 150k for this story alone. _😲_ It's definitely an epic._


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

"_I can't believe Zach graduates high school in just a couple of months_," Karen moaned. "_When did he grow up?_"

"Over the past 18 years," Claire replied matter-of-factly, and mostly absentmindedly. She was sitting at her desk in her office, scrolling through emails.

"_Claire… are you even listening to me?_" Karen said, and Claire just hummed an acknowledgement, typing out a reply to an email and hitting send. "_I've decided to move to Timbuktu. No reason to stay here anymore._"

"Really? You're moving? I thought you loved Madison," Claire half-tuned back into the conversation.

"_Why do you even bother answering if you don't have time to talk?_" Karen bemoaned. "_I might as well be talking to a brick wall._"

"What about bricks?" Claire asked, finally looking away from her laptop, confused.

"_Ugh, Claire! I'm just going to go_," Karen said.

"Wait, sorry, I'm paying attention. I'm even closing my laptop. What were you saying? Where are you moving?"

"_Nowhere_," Karen sighed, "_I was just trying to get your attention._"

"Sorry, sorry, life has been busy, but I know that's not a good excuse. What's going on?" Claire pushed back from her desk, standing up and wandering towards her window to stare out over the park.

"_Never mind, I should probably get going,_" Karen said. "_My lunch break's almost over._"

"Before you go," Claire quickly spoke up, "You just reminded me, I need help with a graduation gift. What should I be getting Zach? What does he want?"

"_That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about,_" Karen admitted.

"Really?"

"_Well, not _your _gift, exactly. I've been thinking about what you said about coming out for a visit. And both of the boys have been asking to go back. I thought maybe that would make a good graduation gift-slash-trip. To bring them back out there. Maybe end of June?_"

"Wow," Claire was momentarily stunned. She had been suggesting that Karen come for a visit for months now, and it had always felt like it was something Karen wasn't all that interested in doing. "I'd love if you guys came out. That would be great. But… June?"

"_Something wrong with June?_"

"It's just that's the green season, when we get the most rain. It's not when I'd recommend."

"_When _would _you recommend?_" Karen asked. "_It doesn't have to be then. I just thought it might work out._"

"If you could wait until the fall…" Claire felt bad for suggesting such a long delay, especially now that her sister was actually really considering it. "Really, November on is better, but even October would probably be okay. I just… I'd hate for you to come all the way down here and then feel like you're stuck inside the whole time."

"_Hmm, I'll have to see what the schedule's like for Zach in the fall. I don't know what his college timetable will be. But maybe we could come down for Thanksgiving._"

"I can probably give you a sneak peak of the new exhibit then, too. We're hoping to open it around Christmas," Claire said, before wincing. Why did she bring that up? Why would she want her family to get closer to dinosaurs that _she_ didn't even want to be near? But she knew why — if it went okay with them, if she could feel fine showing the Indoraptors off to her family, then there was nothing to worry about. Then it would feel like she could put her fears behind her.

"_Really? Cool_," Karen said. "_I'll talk to Zach and look into dates. I should probably warn you though…_"

"Warn me about what?"

"_The boys… well, mostly Gray, still talk about Owen. And the raptors. They'll be hoping to get to see them again._"

"The raptors or Owen?" Claire asked slowly, not really sure that it made a difference. Both would involve Owen.

"_Both,_" Karen admitted.

"I thought you said you told them we broke up. Didn't you?"

"_I did,_" Karen agreed. "_But, well, they still like him. And he's their access to the raptors._"

"Dammit, Kar," Claire said, pinching the bridge of her nose. She let out a long slow breath, before moving back to her desk chair and collapsing into it. "I can't promise anything. I haven't spoken to him since… well, since we 'broke up' or whatever we did."

"_Maybe this is what you need to finally talk,_" Karen suggested hopefully. "_One of you is going to have to make a move._"

"Not really," Claire disagreed. "There's no reason for us to interact." And that was sort of the nub of the problem. If they weren't seeking the other out, there really _was_ no reason for them to have anything to do with each other. Both could blissfully go about their own days and work without fear of running into the other. Something she would've considered a benefit if they really had been dating and broke up, but now just felt like it had enabled their friendship to completely fall apart. There was nothing forcing them to face each other.

"_Claire_."

"Karen."

"_If you never talk to him… You can't fix things with silence, you know that, right?_"

"I don't think there's anything to fix."

"_You're not fooling me, Claire. Think about it, please? The boys could use a good role model._"

"They've got Scott."

"_You wouldn't be saying that if you were here_," Karen said and Claire hesitated, not sure if she should ask for more details. "_I'm being unfair_," Karen admitted a moment later. "_He's trying, but… well, I think he's finally realizing how much he relied on me to do everything before. To be the parent. It's still a struggle._" She let out a sigh. "_Gray's got a serious case of hero worship going on for Owen. He's going to bug you non-stop to see him if we come out._"

"When."

"_Right, when. So be prepared for that. If you don't reach out beforehand…_"

"I'll consider it," Claire conceded. "Not today. But… I'll think about it."

"_That's all I ask_," Karen thanked her. "_I really should go though. I'll let you know about possible dates when I know more._"

"I'm really happy you're going to finally make it out here," Claire admitted. "It's been too long since I've seen you."

"_You could still come up here in the meantime,_" Karen reminded her. "_Get a break from all that rain. Maybe you could even make it to Zach's graduation._"

"I'll see. No promises." Claire hated that she already knew she'd be making up an excuse not to go. She _was_ busy, but if she really wanted to, she could take a few days. She just, well, didn't want to. Family was much better in small doses. And jumping into the middle of a divorce didn't feel ideal. Zach wouldn't need more pressure to see extended family when his time was already going to be pulled in two different directions. She'd see him when he came out.

"_Right_," Karen replied, and Claire knew her sister already knew what would happen. "_See you in the fall._"

"See you then."

o-o-o

The best thing about the Indoraptors' birth (maybe the only good thing, really) was that Hoskins wasn't on the island as much anymore. It wasn't an outcome that Owen had predicted. He had actually assumed Hoskins would be around more, wanting to check in on the Indoraptors progress and disguising it with check-ups on the raptors. But, Hoskins seemed content with letting both projects continue without his constant scrutiny.

Of course, that meant that when he _was_ around, Owen immediately got concerned. And with all the pressure about the field test, Owen was mainly waiting for the day when Hoskins would show up and announce that it was all sorted and they were ready to move the raptors. So far, it hadn't happened, but Owen wouldn't put it past Hoskins stubbornness to get it done.

"What does he want now?" Owen asked Barry as the two were cleaning the raptor harnesses. Sure, they could've passed the job onto one of the paddock techs to deal with, but really, there wasn't much else to do that day, and it was an excuse to not be working on reports.

"With him? Nothing good," Barry said, dunking his sponge back in the bucket of soapy water before squeezing it out.

"Gentlemen," Hoskins greeted them, coming to a stop on the outside of the pen. Owen was waiting for the day when Hoskins would just open the gate and enter, but it hadn't happened yet. He was starting to think Hoskins actually liked the gate and the forced distance it kept between him and the raptors.

"What's up, Hoskins?" Owen asked, shifting the upturned bucket he'd been sitting on so he could get at a different area of the harness. He continued scrubbing, it wasn't worth stopping.

"Thought you'd be eager for an update on the field test," Hoskins commented after a couple moments of silence went by. Both Owen and Barry just grunted their agreement, but neither said anything more. "Fine, if you don't care…" Hoskins let his threat trail off, but again neither Owen or Barry responded. "It's going to happen, you know that, right?" Hoskins finally said, and Owen could tell he was restraining his anger at their (lack of) reaction.

"So you keep saying," Owen said, sparing a quick glance over at him. "But, so far, it doesn't seem like you're any closer to it happening. So, for now, it doesn't seem worth our time to be thinking about it."

"We've got a location," Hoskins announced, and at that, both Owen and Barry actually turned to look at him. Hoskins grinned at them, clearly happy to have finally got their attention. "Isla Sorna, also known as Site B."

"_Las Cinco Meurtes_?" Barry confirmed, and Hoskins nodded.

It took Owen a moment to place where Hoskins was referring to, the name sounding initially familiar. It was Barry saying the name of the island chain that made it finally snap into place. And, for a couple of moments, Owen was too caught up in the _where_, that he was able to forget what mattered more — that Hoskins had a location now. Owen had been relying on, hoping really, that finding a new location was going to be the step that would trip him up. Surely no one would be insane enough to allow raptors to be brought there. But, he realized, he'd been thinking that Hoskins would be limited to somewhere already populated. He had forgotten about the other islands, just a bit further away from Costa Rica than Nublar, the islands that had previously been home to Jurassic Park experiments.

"Why there?" Owen asked, although he was sure he knew the answer.

"There's some infrastructure we think we can reuse," Hoskins answered. "But, more so, we already have access to that island and it has been home to dinosaurs before. While it's been a while since anyone has been there, it shouldn't take long to construct what we need."

"Dinosaurs _before_… How do you know there aren't any there now?" Owen asked, eyes narrowed. "I thought they were breeding on Sorna. How'd they find them all?"

"When Masrani started up Jurassic World all the initial dinosaurs were from Sorna," Hoskins reminded him. "They cleared off that island. That was part of their agreement with the Costa Rican government — to remove the dinosaurs from there."

"Have you seen how big Sorna is? It makes Nublar look tiny. There's no way they can guarantee they've all been removed," Barry said, shaking his head.

"There haven't been any spotted on the island in the last 10 years, I think we're pretty safe," Hoskins dismissed him. "It doesn't matter anyway. We'll be mapping out a large area for the field test and setting up a perimeter around it and a base camp. It's not like we'd take the raptors over and just let them loose."

"Right," Owen rolled his eyes. That had always seemed to be their plan. "What is the goal of this field test you're imagining? How big of an area? What will you do if you encounter other dinosaurs? What's the timeline?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Hoskins held up his hands in defense. "Hold on there, you're still a few steps ahead of us. We've got engineers working out construction plans right now. We need to do some trips over to the island to see what we can reuse. It's not going to happen tomorrow."

"Then why are you even telling us?" Owen asked. "What's the point of the update?"

"Don't want you to get too comfortable here," Hoskins said. "The day _is _coming. Sooner than I know you'd like. It's time for you to start planning out the field test. Getting the raptors ready for it. Whatever else you need to do."

"You still haven't told us the goal of it," Owen reminded him again. "What are you hoping to learn from it? Moving them to a bigger space with no better plan isn't going to accomplish anything."

"Same goal as we've always had," Hoskins returned. "Figuring out their intelligence. You're the one who said you couldn't learn more here. That you needed more space. I'm getting it for you. You need to carry it to the next step."

With that, Hoskins turned and walked away, and Owen and Barry shared a look. Owen threw his sponge at the bucket of water, annoyed when it just landed with a soft plop, slowly sinking as it took on more water. Not nearly as satisfying as he'd hoped.

A chirp from behind Barry had the two turning to look through the inner gate, where they could see Blue and Charlie staring in at them, their heads tilted to the side as if in question.

"Nothing to see here," Owen told the raptors. Blue chirped again, front claws on the gate, while Charlie tried to stick her head through. "Seriously, go do… whatever you want. We'll do another training session later." He flicked his hand at them, trying to get them to back away. It was Charlie's turn to let out a hopeful chirp, her gaze focused on Owen's bag that was sitting off to the side. "Oh, I see what you want," Owen said, finally letting out a chuckle, but getting up and moving towards his bag anyway. "Fine."

"You're such a sucker," Barry said, shaking his head at Owen, before picking up his own sponge and turning back to the harness.

"They're hard to resist," Owen shrugged, grabbing a few treats from his bag before moving towards the inner gate. He paused, looking at the two raptors, before saying, "You know you're not just going to get them that easy, right?"

o-o-o

Claire preferred taking business lunches and dinners to Nobu, as it was her favourite restaurant on the island, and it was always a bonus when she could write off the meal expenses. Unfortunately, not everyone liked sushi, and so almost equally often her meetings would take place at Winston's, where everyone was more likely to find something they would eat.

What she didn't expect, when she walked into Winston's that evening, was to see Owen. Even though she'd promised her sister months ago that she would reach out to him, she hadn't, finding convenient excuses to keep pushing the task down her to-do list. It was easy enough to do, what with guest numbers up as the summer was in full swing and the Indoraptors continuing to keep her on her toes. They had surpassed ten feet in length from head to tail and she was pretty sure they were almost as big as the raptors now, and the fact that they were thriving was putting pressure on her to move up the timetable on the exhibit. So far, she'd managed to push back, as they still hadn't rounded up investors yet.

Which was why _Claire_ was at Winston's. She was meeting the latest reps sent by Verizon Wireless to discuss their potential interest, again (they were turning into a very hard sell and Claire had yet to decide if all the effort was going to turn out to be worth it). But that didn't explain why Owen was there. Or why he was dressed up.

Using the opportunity she had to observe him from the entrance, Claire took in what she could see of his outfit. Button-up shirt and... was that a _tie_?! No jacket, but, well, that was probably too much to ask for. No, wait, she watched as he shifted in his seat, leaning forward for his glass of wine and she realized there was a jacket draped over the back of his chair. As he leaned back, she finally moved her gaze across the table, almost stumbling back a step when it landed on the woman sitting across from him. A very attractive woman, who looked to be wearing a tight, low cut, black dress. Claire didn't recognize her, but watching as Owen reached out and rested his hand on top of the woman's on the table, it was clear that Owen was on a date.

Swallowing hard, Claire tore her gaze away from them and bit her lip. She wasn't sure what to think. It had been over eight months now, she reminded herself. Of course Owen was going to have moved on. She'd gone on a date herself just over a month after they 'split,' he'd probably been on plenty of dates already. Hell, he'd probably _slept_ with plenty of women in the time since. A shudder ran through her, and she worked hard to suppress it. She had no right to judge, she knew that. But, did he really have to dress up for this person? What happened to the guy who wore board shorts on dates? And took them to Margaritaville? Or did he only do that with her? Was it only that _she'd_ never been worth more?

In the months since they'd ended things, she'd assumed that since she hadn't heard anything about him, any gossip or other news, he was maybe just pining away like she was. Or, well, she'd sort of hoped for that. But, she felt stupid for thinking that now. Why would he? After all, part of the reason she'd suggested they end things _was_ because she knew he had options. Of course, doing the right thing didn't have to mean _wanting_ the right thing to happen. Or, well… ugh, relationships with people were always tricky.

"Claire!" A clamoring of voices behind her had her spinning around, bright smile already pasted on her face as she greeted the trio of investors.

"Your table is ready," the hostess interrupted a minute later, and the group followed her through the restaurant.

The second Claire realized they were going to pass close by Owen's table, she quickly diverted her attention, looking far too interested in what the investor beside her was saying. As she settled into her seat, however, placing her napkin on her lap, she couldn't help herself as her gaze darted over to Owen's table.

He was looking directly at her, and for a moment, their gazes locked. Claire looked away first, not sure what she was seeing in his eyes, and not ready, or willing, to think it through. Not now, not during a business dinner. She'd overthink it later, instead.

o-o-o

Storming up the stairs, Owen took them two by two. He'd debated on using the elevator, but the idea of being cooped up inside a tiny box while his body was radiating energy it desperately needed to expel seemed like a recipe for disaster. Still, why did Claire's office have to be on the top floor?

Finally reaching her floor, he strode down the hall, hands clenched into fists at his side. He was so focused on her office door, he didn't even notice the people scattering out of his way.

"Oh, Mr. Grady," Zara popped out of one of the side rooms he passed, moving to try to stand in front of him. Owen kept striding forward, causing her to hurry along beside him instead. "Do you have an appointment? Does Claire know you're coming?" When Owen didn't answer, and as they were now only a few feet from Claire's door, Zara grabbed his arm, trying to stop him. "She's very busy, you know."

"She'll see me," Owen growled. He shook off Zara and shoved the door open, causing it to bounce off the wall. Startled, Claire looked up from her laptop and Owen came to a stop just a foot from her desk.

"Owen?" Claire asked, almost stumbling over his name. "What are you doing here?"

"What do you think you're playing at?" Owen said, his voice low. When Claire just looked at him blankly, he couldn't help himself, his voice rising as he spoke. "Did you think I wouldn't find out? That I wouldn't know it was you? You can't do this to my girls. I won't let you."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Claire replied, her voice steady. "You can't just barge in here, you know. If you need to talk to me about something, you set up a meeting."

"A meeting? You want me to book a fucking meeting?" Owen knew he was yelling, but he couldn't seem to stop himself. "For god's sake, Claire. Do you hate me that much you'd go behind my back? You do remember it was all f–"

"Whoa!" Claire stood up, slamming her hands onto her desk. The move shocked Owen into silence. He'd never actually seen her angry before, but right now, he was pretty sure if he wasn't so angry himself, her glare would have caused him to burst into flames. He watched as she shifted, looking behind him. "Zara, can you please give us a few minutes. Hold my calls."

He didn't hear Zara's answer, but assumed it was in the affirmative, as he heard the door click shut behind him.

Claire's gaze snapped back onto his. "What the fuck, Owen?! What the hell is wrong with you?"

He blinked twice, a realization hitting him that maybe he didn't really know Claire. For all the months that they'd hung out, for all the conversations they'd had, he'd never heard her swear before.

"What? Now you're going to be silent?"

Getting his bearings, Owen leaned forward, propping his own hands on her desk, levelling his gaze with hers. "What happened to the Claire that knew the Indoraptors were a bad idea? Huh? What happened to her? Since when are you on Ja—" He cut himself off, shaking his head, of _course_ she'd be on James's side. "Since when are you on Hoskins's side?"

"Okay, you need to back up and start at the beginning," Claire said, pushing back from the desk and sitting back down in her chair. "I have no clue what you're talking about."

"The budget reassignment," Owen ground out. How could she not know what he was talking about? As if there was anything else that would get him worked up enough to storm her office. "We need that money, Claire."

"What budget reassignment?"

For the first time, Owen realized that the confusion he was seeing on Claire's face was genuine. She didn't know what he was talking about. Brow furrowed, he stood up straighter. "The raptor budget. We were just informed that it's getting cut so that more money can be assigned to the Indoraptors."

"Informed by _who_?" Claire asked, leaning forward.

"What does it matter?" Owen replied. "You can't cut our budget. As it is, I buy stuff out of my own damn pocket. They're growing girls. They need their food."

"I'm not cutting your budget," Claire disagreed with a shake of her head.

"You're not?" Owen repeated, skepticism clear on his face.

"Who told you that?" Claire asked again.

"There was an email," Owen said, fishing in his pocket for his phone. Pulling it out, he found the email, before handing the device over.

"Owen," Claire groaned, skimming the email, "This isn't even an official email. It's one of the annoying gossip chains."

"Yeah, but they're usually right," Owen replied, taking his phone back. "Besides, I also heard some of the ACU guys talking about how more people were being assigned to Paddock 11 and how resources were being redistributed."

"ACU resources _are_ being redistributed," Claire said, leaning back in her chair. "It's been a project that's been underway for the past year. We've been working on a more efficient use of them. That has nothing to do with IBRIS or the Indoraptors. It's a completely separate issue."

"Oh." Owen felt a little chagrined over his earlier reaction, but he still wasn't completely convinced.

"I can't believe you think so little of me," Claire said, breaking the silence that had started to settle over them. "I wouldn't do that, you know. I wouldn't just randomly cut your budget. I _can't _even do that. Your budget comes from InGen. I have no control over it." Sitting up taller and leaning forward, her gaze held his, her expression stern. "You have no right to come and yell at me. You're lucky I didn't call security on you. I don't tell you how to do _your_ job. Stop trying to tell me how to do mine."

"You couldn't do my job," Owen shot back.

"And you couldn't do mine!" Claire replied immediately. "If you have a problem with your budget, you need to go to Hoskins. Not me."

"Like that would make a difference," Owen mumbled, looking away from her. He took a deep breath before letting it out slowly. "I should go."

"Yeah, sure, fine," Claire said, shuffling a few papers around on her desk, not looking at him.

"You don't have to sound so happy about it," he grumbled.

"I'm sorry, who just stormed into my office, unannounced, only to yell at me?" Claire asked, lifting a single eyebrow. "You could've just texted me, you know. It would've been faster. And less disruptive."

"Like you'd have replied to that," Owen scoffed. "I haven't heard from you in months."

"What was I supposed to say? You're the one who stopped talking to me, remember? You're the one who decided we couldn't be friends."

"That's not… I didn't…" Owen sighed, finally sinking into one of the chairs opposite Claire. He rubbed a hand down his face. "I don't know how to be friends with you."

"I thought we were friends before."

If he hadn't hated himself before, he did now, hearing how small and tiny her voice was as she said that, how she was unable to even meet his gaze now, the earlier flames of anger having completely burned out. "I… I don't know what we were. Everything was just so confusing."

"I asked, remember?" Claire finally looked up at him again. "I asked if we could be friends. You made the choice."

"Hard to sell a breakup if you're hanging out with the person the next day," Owen said nervously. "It wouldn't have looked right."

"Right, fine," Claire nodded, looking away again. "You're right." She pulled her laptop back towards her, opening it up.

Owen waited to see if she was going to say anything else. When it appeared she wasn't, he moved to stand up. "I'm sorry," he said.

"What for?" Claire asked, her eyes meeting his.

He took a moment, trying to see what he could read there, see what she was really asking. In the end, he just simply went with, "Everything."

* * *

_I promised they'd talk - I didn't promise it'd all be good. :) But, __I've officially written_ _real* clawen fluff for this story now. :P So it's coming. Totally sappiness. *Real as in not fake relationship based. :) _

_Also - I don't want this story to end! _😭 _I hope you're enjoying it as much as I have been._

_As always, if you've got any thoughts about this chapter or story as a whole (good or bad) use that comment box. They make my day. :)_


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21**

It had been two weeks and Claire hadn't heard from Owen again, not since the day he had walked out of her office, his apology hanging in the air. She wasn't sure how to take the silence this time. What had he meant by his apology? Sure, he'd said "everything," but she wasn't certain they were even on the same page as to what had gone wrong. What was to say his "everything" was at all in line with hers?

And she'd brought up being friends again. She'd put it out there and it felt like he'd shot her down — again. What was that old saying? "Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice…" Surely, at this point, it was clear that resuming a friendship with Owen was off the table. He didn't want it. After all, if he had, wouldn't he have reached out by now?

Claire could hear her sister's voice in her head, berating her and saying she was reading too much into all of this. That it was just another case of crossed wires. But, Claire wasn't sure how much more specific Owen could've been, then him denying they had been friends before.

She _knew_ it had all been fake. She knew that they were acting. Well, by the end of it, she knew that _he_ was acting. She had been trying so hard to keep that line firm in her head. To not to let her heart get in the way, and yet…

The whirl of helicopter blades pulled her from her musings, and she looked up to watch as it slowly descended towards the landing pad, the wind whipping her hair against her cheeks. As it landed with a soft thud, Claire straightened up, watching as the door opened and the investors she'd been waiting on climbed out, one by one. She groaned, silently, as she realized that, once again, the companies had chosen to send an all male team to evaluate the Indoraptors. It was going to be a long afternoon.

After greeting them warmly, she led them quickly through the building and out to the waiting car. "I thought we'd start with a visit to the Indoraptors themselves. Give you a chance to see exactly what we're talking about before we start getting into the details." Their excited nods and words of approval made her want to roll her eyes. No matter how old people got, or how high up their company ladders, everyone always loved to think they were getting a sneak peak or private access. That they were "special." At least it made it easier to impress them.

On the car ride to Paddock 11, Claire filled them in on the basic details. Hopper and Curie were now just a month shy of their first birthday and were approaching eight feet in height and almost 16 feet long. Claire had reached out to Henry the previous week, asking again for confirmation that they really _weren't_ going to be as big as the Indominus or the T. rex. He'd reassured her that they were probably starting to get close to their max size now. When she'd inquired how that was possible when they were still so young, he'd admitted that they were growing at an accelerated rate, but had informed her that no, this time they had not used cuttlefish genes. Claire wasn't sure if she believed him or not, but, well, she didn't have any proof that he was lying. She just really hoped he wasn't.

Once the group reached the paddock, Claire took them straight to the viewing area. She stood to the side, watching as they all moved directly to the windows. Their excitement was almost contagious. She walked over to where the ACU guard was sitting under the monitors displaying the camera feeds, and checked in with him first, confirming that nothing was out of the ordinary. He assured her it was all good, and then informed her they had good timing, that James usually started a training session around then. Claire had smiled tightly, agreeing with a quick nod on their good timing, before turning away and letting a grimace cross her face briefly.

Really, the guard was right — it _was_ good timing and the potential investors would definitely be excited and thrilled by the experience. Claire just wished she didn't have to watch it. There was no way she could avoid the windows and the Indoraptors if they were there for the next hour.

"Claire," Ben, one of the investors, called as he turned from his spot by the window and waved her over. "How do you tell them apart?"

She walked over to him, trying to hide the shudder that ran through her as she realized that he was standing in the exact spot the Indominus had broken through. Looking out the window, she could see Hopper and Curie down in the paddock below, roaming about, occasionally glancing up towards the viewing area.

"Hopper is the one with the yellow stripe and Curie the greyish one," she told Ben, pointing at them respectively. "It turns out we have great timing today. James Conrad, the Indoraptors' behaviourist, has a scheduled training session that should be starting in just a few minutes."

"Oh, wow, really?" Ben said, the others chiming in with their own words of approval. Claire just nodded tightly, before moving along the window, more to get away from where she'd been standing than to actually interact with any of the other investors spread around the room.

After answering a few more questions about the Indoraptors, Claire actually felt relieved when she saw James appear on the catwalk in the paddock. While she'd watched bits and pieces of Owen's training sessions in the past, as her visits to the paddock often seemed to overlap with him working with the raptors, she'd never actually seen James at work. She'd only heard Owen gripe and complain about him and wonder why he'd been hired.

She _had_ eventually got a hold of James's resume, HR apologizing for misplacing it. While nothing seemed unusual to her, Claire still wished she'd had a chance to run it by Owen. She wasn't even sure what she should be looking for. A lot of the lingo he used seemed like buzz words, and she was sure Owen would be able to glean more than she ever could from it. However, she hadn't got the copy until after she and Owen had stopped… well, just stopped.

Watching the Indoraptors, as they responded to James's commands, Claire found herself vacillating between exhilaration and fear.

The Operations Manager part of her was feeling gleeful at the possibilities of the Indoraptor attraction. The closest they had to a "trained" dinosaur exhibit, was the feeding show with the Mosasaurus. This was going to blow people's minds. Watching the investors and the childlike glee on their faces, she knew they were sensing it, too. Suddenly, it felt like her job was going to get a whole lot easier.

The rest of her, the part of her that remembered everything that had happened with the Indominus — vividly — desperately wanted to make a break for it. She couldn't imagine having a "fight" response to a dinosaur. Not one that could tear her to shreds with a single swipe of an arm or kick of a leg or snap of a jaw.

As she watched the Indoraptors, she found herself focusing in on their expressions. She had never thought of any of the dinosaurs as expressive before. It was one of the reasons why, whenever Masrani would ask her if the dinosaurs were enjoying life, she wasn't sure how to answer. But, there was something about the Indoraptors. A couple of times, when they'd glanced up at the viewing room window, or had looked over at each other, she would've sworn that they'd _grinned_. The sight sent a shiver down her spine.

She wished she had someone she could talk to. Someone who would listen to her concerns and not just brush them aside as pre-opening jitters or some other excuse. She wished she could talk to Owen.

o-o-o

Owen was heading up the paddock steps with a bucket of rats when his watch started to beep. He stopped to check the time, but he already knew what it was, having set the alarm earlier. Dammit, why hadn't he just said no? _Because you haven't seen them and continuing to stay away and pretend they don't exist isn't going to solve anything_, his inner voice reminded him. But just because it was right, didn't mean he had to like it, right?

Sighing, he continued up the stairs, looking around for Barry before flagging him down. Meeting in the middle of the catwalk, Owen handed the bucket over to his friend. "I need you to take over the training today," he said.

"Why?" Barry asked as he took the bucket. "Did something come up?"

"Yeah, I forgot I have a meeting," Owen sighed.

"Meeting? With who?"

"James," Owen groaned, turning and starting to walk away. "He reached out the other day wanting me to come out and give some advice or something."

"And you said yes?" Barry asked, following behind him.

"I don't have a choice," Owen said.

"Of course, you have a choice," Barry protested.

"Not really," Owen paused to turn back to his friend. "Masrani asked me to help, remember? If I'd said no, James would just go to someone higher up and I'd come off looking worse."

"You don't know that."

"I don't trust him enough to _not_ do it," Owen shrugged, starting down the stairs. "Hopefully I can be unhelpful enough that he never asks me back."

"Good luck with that," Barry called after him, and Owen raised a hand in acknowledgment.

A quick detour through the office to grab his phone and keys, and he was driving his motorcycle over to Paddock 11. As he pulled into the outer lot, he had to work hard to prevent the shudder that ran through him from being obvious. Even though it was clear that a lot of work had been done since his visits over a year and a half ago (where did the time go?) he still couldn't prevent the flashbacks to the Indominus.

Owen knew the Indoraptors were a couple weeks away from being a year old now, but he'd mostly managed to avoid anything to do with them. It ended up being not that hard, once the initial flurry of interest over them had died down and they weren't talked about as much via the gossip chain. That, and he figured Barry (his main source of gossip and island news) assumed that Owen just wanted nothing to do with James (which was also true) and had stopped sharing anything.

"Owen, glad you could make it," James greeted him, coming down the stairs that Owen knew led to the viewing room.

"I said I would," Owen shrugged. "What did you want to show me?"

"I think you'll be amazed by the Indoraptors," James gushed, leading him up the staircase. "I can't even get over what they can do some days. The training has been going so well. I know Claire has been really impressed. She likes to come watch the training sessions."

Owen couldn't help perking up at the mention of Claire. He'd never actually had confirmation one way or the other if she and James were dating. And, when he wasn't feeling petty, Owen would admit that _that_ irked him more than anything. He never knew if he was brooding over something that didn't exist.

Even after he'd stormed into her office a few weeks back, he wasn't sure what to make of everything. He'd been so close to telling her then, that he wanted more than friendship. He just hadn't been able to put it into words. Without knowing her current dating status, it had felt too risky to go out on that limb, and so he'd just fallen back on saying it was confusing and then apologizing. Besides, she'd only asked him about being friends, and he still didn't think that could ever be enough. He didn't think he could handle being her friend while she dated someone like James.

"It's been such a relief to be coming up on their first birthday — although, where has the time gone? — and to finally be able to put aside worries about their development. I guess you probably had the same concerns, right?" James asked, and Owen just hummed noncommittally. "But, these two seem to be thriving. And growing so fast! It's amazing what science can do."

"Yeah…" Owen said, although his gaze was caught on the sight out the viewing room window, causing him to come to a stop from where he'd been blindly following James. "Wow…"

"They're amazing, aren't they?" James said, standing beside him to look down into the paddock.

"I didn't realize they were already so big," Owen said, a ball of dread settling in his stomach. At six months old, his raptors had still barely made it to his knees. At a year, they had been at his waist. He could tell the Indoraptors were already much bigger than his raptors were now.

"Growing like weeds," James joked. "C'mon, let me introduce you." He gestured towards a door at the end of the viewing room and Owen followed after him.

They went through it and down a short hallway past a few other doors that Owen thought might lead to utility rooms or maybe an office before exiting a door onto the catwalk. The setup was similar to the raptors' paddock, with the catwalk circling the outer edges of the paddock, before crossing over in the middle. However, unlike the raptors paddock, instead of crossing in an 'x', there was only a single bridge across.

"I wish we'd been able to setup the catwalk as you have it," James said as they walked towards the bridge. "But, these guys are amazing climbers and so we weren't able to put in any support posts. It limited the final design. Better to be safe than sorry, right?" James laughed and Owen just gave a weak chuckle in response.

"I think climbing is one of the key differences between them and the raptors," James added, as they moved across the bridge until they had a good view looking down at the animals. "As you've probably seen before, they're just as happy on all fours as they are on two legs. Their arms and, well, hands provide for a lot more freedom of movement and increased agility. They can grasp objects. And they can use their hands to steady themselves as they climb. Their weight distribution is different, too. Instead of a heavier torso, they carry their weight more evenly spread from head through their tails."

Owen just nodded along to James's explanation, only half listening. He was more interested in what he was seeing, watching the two Indoraptors below as they appeared to be playing. He was surprised how unaffected they seemed to be by his presence. His raptors always took some time in checking out the "new guy" whenever anyone new was on the catwalk.

Although… leaning on the railing and peering down at them more intently, Owen realized that they _were_ checking him out. It was just more subtle than the raptors, who would stop everything to stare. While the Indoraptors appeared to be roughhousing, he realized that they were continually looking up at the catwalk above, ever observant even in their apparent distraction.

Smart, he thought. These guys are really smart. And probably extra deadly. He could see how it would be easy enough to start to feel okay and safe around them, as they tumbled over each other, looking, for all intents and purposes, like a couple of baby animals play fighting. But, it was their eyes, he realized, when they would lock onto you, that gave away their true selves. Owen could feel them evaluating him, taking stock of the new person, trying to figure out what they needed to know, without him ever being aware of it.

Standing up, he turned to James, asking again, "So, what did you want to show me?"

o-o-o

The visit to the Indoraptors' paddock (especially with viewing the training session) had been such a success, that the investors had been eager to see what sort of a deal they could possibly put forward. While Claire was happy for that part of it — it was making her job a whole lot easier — she was also annoyed, because she had felt the need to offer the same experience to every potential investor group that came by. Which meant that over the past month and a bit _she_ had had to watch multiple training sessions and put on a happy smile and talk about how wonderful it all was, while internally grimacing and wishing for a way out.

If that wasn't bad enough, James had clued in to what was happening (Claire had purposefully _not_ told him) and had started coming out into the viewing area to talk with the investors. She knew she should be happy about that. He was good with them, patiently answering questions and sharing anecdotes. All things she knew she'd never get if she ever attempted something even remotely similar at the raptor paddock. But what bugged her more, was the familiarity he would use around her, like they were good friends, or even something more. In fact, she'd had a few of the female investors casually ask her if they were dating, which Claire has hastily denied. Then, of course, there had been one time when a male investor had joined the conversation and had appeared to perk up at the insinuation that she was single, and she had _almost_ told him that she had a boyfriend, but she couldn't do it. She'd done the fake boyfriend before and look where that had got her. Instead, she had just made sure to never be alone around that guy for the rest of his visit.

But today, as she was standing at the window watching the training session, there was something nagging at her. She was struggling to put her finger on it, trying to figure out what was different today, from the previous visits. She kept cycling over what she'd seen before, and it felt the same. James was running through the same series of commands. The Indoraptors were following along, mostly. Nothing about the commands seemed odd or off, at least, not that she could tell. Claire couldn't hear what James was saying, not from within the viewing room, but that was also the same as before.

So what was it?

Running out of ideas, Claire started to think further back, going back to what Owen had told her and what she had witnessed when visiting the raptor paddock. His explanations for why he'd run certain drills and how he would decide on the order to offer praise or rewards. And the goals of the IBRIS project, overall. Owen had been trying to evaluate their intelligence. Later, as the field test idea had become more and more of a priority, and as Hoskins had stopped pretending that the military objectives were a distant second, she knew that some of his drills were also designed based on potential military uses. That training the raptors to be able to sniff out a target was one thing. Same with basic puzzle solving skills. But putting those together, training the raptors to search out a target while needing to problem solve and strategize, was about training them with the military in mind.

The Indoraptors, however, were not supposed to have anything to do with the military. They were strictly meant to be a new attraction for the park. James's training should be focused on tasks that would excite crowds, like teaching them to complete scent drills and hunt down pigs. Much more like sit, stand, and roll over, and less about complicated patterns.

Claire looked down into the paddock again, watching as Hopper and Curie were being led in a task that she'd witnessed before. James would release two animals to hunt, often pigs or chickens, for the Indoraptors. The first time she'd witnessed it, the Indoraptors had divided and conquered, each taking their own target and both eventually succeeding. She'd been surprised when she'd looked up at James after their success to see that he hadn't looked happy. Today, Claire realized, the Indoraptors had left one target behind, having taken off after the same target together. Her brow furrowed, she watched the lone chicken pecking at the ground, now that the noise and hustle and bustle of the chase had moved away.

Looking up at James, Claire saw a grin on his face as he leaned against the railing. She followed his gaze, but she couldn't see the Indoraptors from where she was standing, and instead looked back at the chicken. Why would the Indoraptors have left behind such an easy kill? And why would James look happy that they had?

o-o-o

A month later, Claire was sitting in her office where she was supposed to be working. She had a stack of paperwork on her desk that she needed to go through: reports to sign off on, vacation time to approve, new merchandise options to look through. Instead, a notification that had popped up on her phone had left her brooding, turned in her office chair, back to the desk as she stared blankly out the window, not really seeing anything.

Had it really already been a year? Time really does fly by in a hurry. Claire looked down at her phone, hitting the button on the side, watching as the screen lit up, the calendar notification still there, mocking her: _Owen's Birthday, Tomorrow._

She didn't even remember storing the information in her phone, but it was just like her to do something like that, not wanting to forget. And now she was left staring at it. They hadn't done anything for his birthday last year as it had occurred shortly after they had ended things. And she didn't even remember seeing the notification, but that was probably because the week following their tequila soaked evening was a blur of emotions.

Now, though, staring at the notification, it felt like the world was giving her a sign. She needed to reach back out to Owen.

The date for the Indoraptors' grand opening was less than two months away and her concerns from the investor visits hadn't gone away. She'd spent her final visits carefully watching James and the training sessions, trying to see if anything else would jump out at her. But nothing had. Eventually, she'd convinced herself that she was overreacting. That she should be focusing on the positives. And so, for the past month, Claire had held her tongue as she'd had contracts prepared, biting back the comments she'd wanted to say as the various companies competed to make their offers look more lucrative than the next as they all clamored for the lucky spot of being the company who would present the Indoraptors to the world. She'd sat through meeting after meeting as they debated the various offers, trying, in many cases, to compare apples to oranges, as it was the non-monetary benefits that were the real differentiators.

But, now that the contracts were signed, the t's crossed and i's dotted, she was back to spending her free time brooding over what she'd seen. That, and constantly going back and forth between wanting to reach out to Owen to have someone to talk it through with and being convinced she was seeing stuff that wasn't there and that it was fine. She knew that part of her was worried that if she _did_ take it to Owen, he'd probably be on her side. Claire wasn't sure if that would make her feel better or worse.

"Claire?"

"Hmm?" Claire replied, still staring down at her phone and lost in her thoughts.

"Claire, what's up?" Zara came around the desk until she was standing across from her.

"Nothing, just…" Claire sighed, shaking her head to clear it before looking up at her assistant. "Got a reminder on my phone today that just sent me down memory lane."

"Something good?" Zara asked, smile widening hopefully.

"Yes and no," Claire shrugged, still unsure herself.

"What is it?"

Claire paused, looking from her phone to her assistant and back again before saying, "Nothing. It doesn't matter. What do you need?"

"Was just bringing you some more reports that got dropped off," Zara held up the group of folders in her hand, grimacing. "Sorry."

"Add them to the stack," Claire said, waving at her desk. "I'm going to be here all night, aren't I?"

"I hope not," Zara laughed. "I've got dinner plans."

"You don't have to stay," Claire reassured her. "But if I don't get through these today, it's just going to get bigger tomorrow."

"You need to take a break, you've been dealing with this all week," Zara disagreed. "Get out for a bit. Do something different. So what if it gets a bit bigger, you'll be able to deal with it better with your head cleared."

Claire looked down at her phone again, before nodding slowly. "You may be right."

o-o-o

Owen hadn't been sure what to think when he'd received the text message from Claire. It had been simple, just asking him if he had any time to meet over the next couple of days. It was only because it was a text message, and not a phone call, that he'd said yes. A phone call would've meant a business meeting, and he couldn't see what business they'd have to discuss. But a text… it felt like the gesture of friendship he probably should've offered himself, and he wasn't about to turn it down. Still, he didn't want to come across like he would drop everything just because she asked to meet, so he had told her he was busy, but that he could free up some time in a few days.

He figured he was right — that it was an overture — when she'd suggested meeting just outside the Innovation Center. A business meeting definitely would've taken place in her office. And also wouldn't be taking place at 8pm.

Nonetheless, he wasn't sure what to expect, and had found himself leaving work a bit early, too hopped up on nervous energy to stay focused. He'd ended up going for a drive around the island, trying to pass the time and calm himself down, before he'd showered and changed and headed to Main Street. Now, watching as she exited the doors of the Innovation Center, still dressed in her business clothes, he was starting to second-guess himself. Maybe this was the only time she'd had to fit him into her schedule, and it really _was_ a business meeting.

"Hey," Owen said, pushing away from the wall he'd been leaning against and moving into her line of sight as he saw her searching around for him.

"Owen." The relieved smile on her face when she saw him made him falter. He really needed to get some information straight, or he was going to be second-guessing everything the whole evening.

"So," he shoved his hands into his pockets, rocking back on his heels and looking anywhere but at her. "Um… you didn't say what this was about… in your message."

"Yeah," Claire replied, a sigh escaping her. He glanced over at her when she didn't continue and saw that she was looking around them, taking in all the guests still wandering between the shops and restaurants. Her gaze came back to him, and he was surprised by her hesitant question, "Do you have some time?"

He nodded. "My evening's free."

"Great," Claire said, looking around again before adding, haltingly, "Um… how about…"

"What about the botanical gardens," Owen suggested, a little concerned by her stumbling and not sure what to make of it. And then, worried that he maybe should've suggested something more public, added, "Or have you had dinner? We could go somewhere…"

"I already ate," Claire said, before straightening up and smiling at him. "The gardens would be perfect."

Silently, the two started down Main Street. Owen watched as she fidgeted beside him, choosing to lead her down the path towards the garden instead of taking the monorail. In a way, the walk felt partly like deja vu, reminding him of the last time they had done this. Except, that time, even though he'd known her far less than he knew her now, he'd felt more comfortable around her. He remembered resting his hand on her back, before sliding his hand into hers. Two actions he wouldn't even dare to attempt now.

As they neared the entrance to the gardens, Owen broke the silence. "So, what did you want to meet about?"

"Um," Claire hesitated again, and Owen watched as she appeared to be debating what to say.

"You can tell me anything, you know," he told her. "I won't judge… well, not _too_ harshly."

At that, Claire left out a bit of a chuckle, and he watched as her posture relaxed a bit. "I guess I don't really know where to start," Claire admitted, before the words started tumbling out. "The Indoraptor exhibit opens in two months and so I've been spending a lot of time over there. Taking investors by and such. James has been great, coming out and sharing info and helping to talk them all up. And he's been showing off his training sessions, almost as a preview as to what we might be able to do… you know." She paused to take a breath.

"But?" Owen pried, knowing it wasn't going to be that easy. Not once she'd mentioned the Indoraptors. He couldn't imagine she'd asked to meet just to tell him that everything was great. That didn't seem like her style. For a second, his heart dropped — was she actually there to tell him something about James, about _her_ and James. He couldn't help himself, his gaze dropping to her hands, and then having to stifle his sigh of relief that there was no engagement ring gracing her finger.

"I don't know, maybe I'm overreacting," Claire shrugged. "It's just… I don't understand what he's training them to do."

"What do you mean?" Owen's curiosity was officially piqued.

"I get that we hired James so that what happened with the Indominus doesn't happen again. So that they would get proper socialization and training and wouldn't be, well, psychotic," Claire paused, and Owen held back his laugh, knowing it wasn't really a funny statement. "And I do think he's succeeding. I mean, they seem happy and healthy. Well, as happy as you can tell about a dinosaur. Although they still give me the creeps. There are times I would swear they've… Sorry, that's irrelevant." She shook her head, dismissing her own words. "What I meant is, I get having them do scent drills, as that would likely play well to crowds. Or having them chase down pigs or chickens, the feeding shows are some of our biggest hits. But, well, why would he… There's one training I've seen him do, where he releases two pigs or chickens into the paddock, but only wants them to chase one of them. Why?"

They had been wandering the dark garden paths as she spoke, Owen watching as she wrung her hands. He had stayed silent as she stumbled through what she was trying to say. But as she finished, she came to a stop, turning to look at him, her face pleading.

"Just… I'm overreacting, right? I'm seeing things that aren't there." Claire looked away from him, crossing her arms over her chest and hugging herself.

"Hard to say," Owen said slowly. "I mean, I've only seen them once, just over a month ago, when James asked me to go by. And I've only seen what he _wanted_ me to see, so I didn't see anything that jumped out at me. But… when he has them chase just one, what happens to the other?"

"What do you mean?"

"Do they chase it after they catch the first?"

"No," Claire shook her head. "Well, not really. A paddock tech opens a door and if it's smart it escapes."

"Hmm," Owen said.

He wasn't sure what he'd expected Claire's answer to be, and, really, it didn't make a difference. It was odd either way. What would be the point? Yes, he taught his raptors delayed gratification, but that was much more about letting them see their food and holding them off from chasing/eating it, not never actually getting it. There was also a part of him that felt kind of jealous, which he hated, because he was pretty sure he wouldn't be able to convince his raptors to only chase and eat _one_ of two potential targets.

"You know I don't like James. And I don't know what your relationship with him is, but I still don't like him. And I don't like the idea of the Indoraptors at all, but it's hard to conclude anything from one training drill. I don't know why he would be doing that, but that doesn't mean he won't have a good explanation."

"Relationship?" Claire's puzzled tone made Owen feel defensive.

"It doesn't matter," he quickly said. "I don't need to know."

"I don't have a relationship with him," Claire said. "I don't hold the same hostility that you do, but…"

"Did something happen?" Owen couldn't help the words from escaping, suddenly concerned that all this time he'd thought they were together instead something more nefarious had taken place.

"With James?" Claire looked confused. "No. I rarely see him. He can just be overly friendly when I do." She rolled her eyes, "Takes sucking up to the boss to a whole new level, and I'm not even his supervisor."

"Oh," Owen replied, looking away, not sure how to process the information. If she wasn't with James… except it didn't mean that she wanted to be with him, either. He chose to move them back to the topic at hand. "Has there been anything else? With the Indoraptors? Any incidents at the paddock? Reports from any of the ACU guys?"

"No," she sighed. "It's all in my head, isn't it? I'm just so convinced they're a bad idea I can't see straight."

"Maybe," he said. "But I'm in the same boat. I don't like them. I don't think I ever will."

"I'm sorry," Claire said, turning to face him again. "To interrupt your evening for this."

"I'm not," Owen shrugged. He paused, before deciding to go for it. "It's good to see you."

"Yeah?" Claire asked, a smile breaking across her face. At his nod, she said, "You, too."

They walked along the path a while more, this time a more comfortable silence hanging over them. As they neared the entrance again, it was Claire who spoke up. "I should probably tell you, my sister and nephews are coming for a visit."

"Really?" Owen asked. "When?"

"Thanksgiving. It's a very belated graduation gift for Zach," she told him.

"Has that much time gone by?" Owen said, disbelief coating his tone. "Graduated. Wow. That would make Gray, what, 14 now?"

"Yep," Claire said. "He's a freshman this year."

"Not such a little kid anymore," Owen said. "Do they want to see the raptors?"

"I'm glad you brought that up," Claire laughed. "Karen's been telling me that Gray still talks about their visit."

"You'll have to bring them by. Let me know when and we'll work something out."

"Thanks," she said, a shy smile on her face, "I will."

The rest of their walk back to Main Street was spent in silence.

"Well, uh, I, uh, I guess I'll see you later?" Owen asked, as they stood near his motorcycle. "I mean…"

"Yeah, I would like that," Claire said. "It was really nice to see you again." She blushed, "Sorry, I know we've already said that."

"It's still true," Owen smiled back at her. "Let me know when you've got some free time. I imagine with the opening, your schedule's even more packed than normal."

"Ugh, don't remind me," Claire grimaced. "I'm also trying to actually clear some time for Karen's visit. I don't know why I told them Thanksgiving would be good timing."

"Well, don't forget, you gotta eat," Owen said, climbing onto his motorcycle, sliding the keys into the ignition. He watched as a funny smile crossed Claire's face, before she nodded.

"I'll figure something out," Claire said. She turned to walk away, taking a couple of steps, before turning back. "Oh! Before I forget: Happy Belated Birthday!"

Owen looked up at the words, a larger grin crossing his face. He didn't even know that she knew when his birthday was. "Thanks!"

He watched as she turned and walked away until she was out of sight, before he finally started up his motorcycle and drove home.

Later, as he lay in bed, he revisited the evening in his head. He'd spent the drive back to his place thinking about what Claire had told him about the Indoraptors, but now, instead of dwelling on that, he focused on Claire instead. Maybe he was reading too much into their evening, but it felt like the wall between them had come crashing down. Or, at least, had a big hole smashed into the middle. Maybe, hopefully, this was going to be the start of something new. Something that wasn't wrapped up in a lie.

* * *

_What is James _up_ to? Hmm... :) Next chapter, some familiar faces return._

_Thanks to everyone who has subscribed, favourited, kudoed and, most of all, commented on this story. I love getting all your feedback and seeing what parts stick out. :) Keep it up, we're almost to the homestretch. _

_If you're using guest comments here on ffn, I can't easily reply to you directly. I've put a few responses below. But if you make an account, I can reply via PM, which makes it easier to give you a longer response (and/or have some back and forth). _

_**Anna** \- The story will end. Seven more chapters to go. _

_**Morgan** \- _"I forgot how destructive to daily life these fandoms could be!" _Yes! So true. _

**_T-Rex Reviewer _**_\- Always nice to hear from a fan.  
1\. I see Owen being against the idea of them becoming an attraction for a few reasons. Mainly, he doesn't like the exploitation of animals. That's not to say he's against training animals or even having them in a zoo (he couldn't do what he does, or work where he does if he was). His work with the raptors has made him really understand their intelligence (it was the goal) and seeing something that intelligent being simply put on display for people (overrated species :P) and having to do simple "tricks" to entertain them would feel beneath their capabilities and sort of mocking of their intelligence. He also thinks that it's only because they're actually somewhat interested in the training and that they have a mutual respect relationship that they haven't actually escaped. He doesn't really believe that they can't. So, if guests pissed them off... he foresees bad things happening. Maybe a VIP attraction could work. But, they're an InGen project first, so InGen gets to decide what happens.  
2\. They are both female (doesn't actually matter for the story) and they both look like the one in FK, except that the coloured stripe on one is more grey. Next chapter gives info on names if you haven't figured them out. :)  
3\. The raptor paddock, as we see it in JW, is small. Which makes it harder to make more challenging tests. Moving them to Sorna is not about chasing stuff that's already there, it's more about the access to more space. Being able to create a much larger paddock, and therefore design bigger, more complicated, challenges.  
4\. Can't say anything about James without giving spoilers.  
5\. I debated it when I finished it, but could never quite sort out a bigger story arc - and there didn't seem to be the interest. I've actually got an idea I'm sorting through now that (should it come to fruition), will either be a sequel to this or a post JW story. Can't say more yet.  
_


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22**

"Karen!" Claire called out, when she saw her sister and nephews stepping off the ferry amongst the crowd of arriving guests. She was surprised by just how excited and eager she was to see them, now that they were there, having started to somewhat dread their visit earlier in the week. She hurried forward, pushing through the crowd, meeting her sister in a hug.

"Claire!" Karen squealed, finally pushing back, holding Claire at arms length, scanning her over. "Oh, I'm so happy to see you." Karen pulled her back in for another hug.

"Hey, what about us?" Zach butted in a few moments later, and Claire pulled herself away from her sister and turned to her nephews.

"Oh my god, Zach! Look at you! I can't believe you're in college!" Claire exclaimed before giving him a hug. She let him go to turn to Gray. "And Gray! Whoa! Where did all this height come from?" As she gave him a hug, Claire wondered where the gangly kid with the unruly curls from a couple of years ago had disappeared. "I'm so glad you guys are finally here," she said, stepping back at last, and observing all three of them. "It's been too long."

"Least it wasn't seven years this time," Zach said, before dodging the playful swat Claire sent his way.

Claire started leading them all away from the ferry. While she knew the monorail ride into the park — going through the well known gates — was designed to be awe inspiring, she had decided to pick them up in her car instead. She didn't think her sister would mind, and the boys had already had the experience.

"So, when can we see the raptors?" Gray asked.

"Oh, I see where I rank," Claire laughed, watching as Karen rolled her eyes at Gray's enthusiasm, the four of them reaching her car. "I talked with Owen and he said to send him a text once we had a better idea of timing and he'd make it work."

"Can we text him now?" Gray was already pulling out his phone.

"Whoa, we've got four days here," Karen reminded him. "We'll get to it. Let's get checked in at the hotel first. I wouldn't mind getting changed."

"Yeah, okay."

Gray's dismayed look had Claire passing him her phone. "Here, why don't you send him a text and let him know you've arrived."

She watched as Gray's face lit up as he quickly copied the number from her phone before handing it back.

"But, don't be surprised if it takes a bit for him to respond. He doesn't usually keep his phone on him while he's working," Claire added, suddenly worried Gray would be disappointed if Owen took his normal time to respond. Gray nodded, already busy tapping out whatever he wanted to say. She turned her attention back to Karen and Zach. "So, what do you two want to do?"

Zach just shrugged. "Don't care. Just happy for the break from school."

"Tough classes?" Claire asked, recalling her own first semester at college and how overwhelming and different it felt after high school.

"It's okay," Zach replied with another shrug, and Claire was reminded of his somewhat sullen attitude during their last visit. Deciding it wasn't worth pressing, not now anyway, she turned to her sister.

"Karen, what about you?"

"Hoping to spend some time by the pool," Karen admitted. "I packed a book I've been trying to find time to read for ages."

"Okay, well, that's easy enough," Claire nodded.

"Mom said we might get to see the new attraction," Gray said, leaning forward from his spot in the back, having finished sending his texts. "She didn't say what it's called."

"Because I don't _know_ what it's called," Karen reminded him.

"And that's because we haven't officially unveiled the name," Claire told Gray. "But, yes, I can take you by the paddock to see them."

"Them? More than one?" Gray asked.

"Yeah, there's two. Hopper and Curie."

"After the scientists?" Zach said, and three sets of eyes swung his way. "Hey, I know things."

"Yes, after the scientists," Claire confirmed, biting back her grin at Zach's expression of mock outrage. "I need to sort out the best time to take you guys by. But I was thinking probably Saturday."

"Cool," Zach nodded.

As Claire was parking, Gray's phone finally chirped with a new message. "It's Owen," he told them, checking it. "He said he's busy today, but he can do tomorrow. Can I say yes?"

"Sure," Claire replied after a quick glance at Karen, "That should work."

Entering the hotel, her own phone went off and Claire looked down at it with a sigh. "Sorry, I've got to take this. Here," she reached into her pocket and pulled out their Jurassic World wristbands. "I grabbed these earlier so we could skip the check in hassle." She handed them out. "We've upgraded since your last visit. The wristbands work as your keys, access to all rides, and can be used to put any food costs on your tab. Your luggage should be delivered shortly, if it's not there yet. Why don't you guys get changed and then come up to my place. You'll need to use your keys for the elevator. Do you guys remember how to get there?" She looked at Zach and Gray who both nodded. "I'll hopefully be able to deal with this quickly," Claire said, looking back down at her phone as it started ringing again.

Getting a nod from the other three, Claire watched as they headed off towards the elevators before answering her phone as she moved to a quiet area of the lobby. "What's up, Lowery?" Claire asked. "You remember I'm not working today, right?"

"_Yeah, I know_," Lowery said, his voice hushed.

Claire immediately straightened, worried by his tone, as she looked around the lobby, although what for, she wasn't sure. "What's going on?" she asked again.

"_Did you know Masrani was coming to the island today?_"

"No, he's not scheduled to come until closer to the Indoraptor opening," Claire replied, a frown settling on her face.

"_Well, we just got the news that his helicopter is inbound. I was surprised you were taking time off during his visit. Is something going on?_"

"Not that I know of," Claire said slowly. "That's not like him to just drop by." She huffed, her mind whirling as she tried to think through what she'd need to do to reschedule her day. "My sister and nephews just arrived. Let me get them all sorted out and then I'll be in."

"_You don't need to come in_," Lowery protested. "_I just wanted you to know_."

"Yeah, thanks for telling me," Claire sighed. "I better come in anyway."

Hanging up her phone, Claire headed for the elevator, mulling over Masrani's surprise visit. She couldn't think of a reason for him to be there, which just worried her more. Why hadn't he told her? Was there something going on that she wasn't aware of?

She was pacing back and forth across her living room when there was a knock on her door, interrupting her spiraling thoughts. Thankful for the distraction, Claire answered the door, stepping aside as the three filed in. Karen went immediately to the windows looking down at the park, while Gray and Zach both collapsed onto her couch.

"Whoa, and I thought our view was nice," Karen commented from the window. "How do you ever convince yourself to leave?"

"You get used to it," Claire said, moving to stand beside her sister. "I mean, I still love it, but it's just normal now."

"I didn't know you had an Xbox," Gray called back to them and Claire turned to see he was over at her TV pulling out the controllers. "What games do you have? Can we play?"

"Oh, it's, um… it's not mine," Claire couldn't help it, she knew she was turning scarlet from embarrassment.

"You're dating someone?" Karen asked immediately. "Why didn't you tell me? Who?"

"I'm not," Claire denied.

"Then who's…" Karen's eyes narrowed. "Don't tell me that's Owen's."

"Whoa! You kept his Xbox? Remind me to never date anyone like you," Zach commented, turning the console on. "That's cold."

"I didn't keep it," Claire protested.

"Um, it's at your place," Zach said. "What else would you call that? I thought you guys broke up like a year ago."

"I told him to come get it. It's not my fault he never did," Claire groaned. "Look, I've got to go into work for a bit." She quickly held up a hand, cutting off her sister's protests. "I cleared my schedule. I did. But my boss has decided to do an impromptu visit so I need to go check in and find out why. It won't be long. I promise. Why don't we all take the monorail over, you guys can explore Main Street and then I'll catch up again as soon as I can get free."

Without waiting for their agreement, Claire gathered up what she'd need, before ushering them out of her place. She promised Zach and Gray they could use the Xbox later and Karen that she really wouldn't take long, all while crossing her fingers and hoping she was right.

o-o-o

"Have you seen the new rifle they've got out at Paddock 11?"

Normally the conversation that drifted into Owen's office went in one ear and out the other. It was generally easy enough stuff to ignore: island gossip, conversation about the latest sports game, talk about girlfriends and wives, and so on. He knew he could close his door and block out the sound, but he didn't really mind it. Occasionally, there were interesting tidbits, and the potential for distraction was always welcome, especially when he was stuck working on reports.

Today's conversation, however, definitely caught his attention. A bit of a gun buff — an enthusiasm developed and honed during his time in the Navy — Owen had hit it off with many of the ACU members over the shared interest. The friendships he'd developed had served him well, enabling him access to their on-island gun range that was really supposed to be ACU only.

Owen had always found shooting a great way to decompress from the day. It was impossible to think about anything else while you were doing so. Well, at least impossible if you were interested in accuracy. There was just something about sliding in a new clip, pulling on ear muffs and drowning out all the sounds around him, before settling into his stance and then slowly, but steadily, emptying the clip into the target.

And it was through his friendship with various members of the ACU, that Owen had a pretty solid knowledge of the guns that were kept on the island. The ACU had a large armoury, which had surprised him at first, but made sense in hindsight. After all, even though the vast majority of the dinosaurs were herbivores, that didn't mean they were any less deadly. Their sheer size alone made them dangerous to be around. Most of the day-to-day weapons carried by the ACU were specially designed taser rifles, as the goal was to stun but not kill. They also kept in stock other non-lethals, like the net gun, which was most often used for capturing the Pteranodons or Dimorphodons. Then, of course, they had a wide range of lethals, from shotguns to other rifles to the M134 machine gun that could be mounted on a helicopter. The only guns that weren't very common on the island were hand guns, considering there were very few species they would actually have much effect against.

"I heard it's been custom made for the Indoraptors," a second person in the hallway commented.

Owen knew that the taser rifles weren't the only custom guns on Nublar. It's not like gun manufacturers the world over were constantly designing guns to take down species like the dinosaurs. After all, outside of Nublar, there really weren't any other species that compared. He knew that InGen had also invested in creating an automatic tranq gun, as existing tranq guns needed to be reloaded after each shot. Many of the larger dinosaurs needed multiple tranq darts to be taken down, and having to stop to reload had made the process more dangerous than it needed to be.

But, this was the first time he'd ever heard of a dinosaur-specific gun. Which didn't make sense. There were only two Indoraptors after all. And nothing about them — nothing that he'd read or heard or seen — had indicated that the existing weaponry on the island would not be enough.

"Custom? What do they need that for?" the first person spoke again. "I hadn't heard that. Just that they were testing out something new."

"I don't know, but Greg told me that he heard it's not even for the ACU."

"Who's it for then?"

"I don't know. Greg said that they're being told not to talk about it. It's all very hush-hush."

"Weird, I wonder–"

Owen couldn't hear what the person said next as the front doors of the building opened and more voices swarmed into the hallway, the resulting white noise making it impossible to follow any one conversation. He sat there hoping that when the noise died down he'd be able to pick up the conversation again, but he wasn't in luck. A couple of minutes later, the volume had decreased, but that was because there was no one left out there talking anymore. He was tempted to get up and see if he could find whoever had been out there, but he hadn't recognized the voices.

A custom Indoraptor gun? That wasn't for the ACU? What was going on at Paddock 11?

He wondered if Claire knew about this. Maybe there was a reasonable answer. Owen knew he'd blown things out of proportion before and that he was probably doing so again. After all, he wasn't even hearing the news second-hand this time. It was more like third- or fourth-hand. And gossip always got exaggerated as it was passed down the line. Besides, it wasn't like he even really knew anything.

But… it wouldn't hurt to ask Claire. She'd probably call him paranoid, but at least he'd have an answer.

Pulling his phone out of his desk drawer he sent off a quick text to her, and then forced himself to put it back down and turn back to his laptop. The report wasn't going to write itself.

o-o-o

It wasn't until Claire was exiting the elevator that she realized she was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. She'd been in such a hurry to find out what Masrani was doing there she had forgotten that she hadn't dressed for work that day. Well, it was too late now.

"Claire," Zara greeted, surprise clear on her face as Claire passed by as she headed into her offic.. "What are you doing here?"

"Lowery told me that Mr. Masrani was coming by," Claire responded as she opened the small closet in her office, finding a blazer she could use to slightly dress up her outfit.

"You didn't need to come in," Zara said. "I thought your family was arriving today."

"They are. I mean, they have," Claire nodded. "I just want to check in with Mr. Masrani and see what's going on. Do you know where he is?"

"His helicopter touched down about thirty mintues ago," Zara told her. "I believe he was headed for the labs."

"Thanks," Claire said. "Hey, did you hear why he was coming?"

"No," Zara shook her head. "Sorry."

"Damn," Claire sighed. "Okay, well, I better go find out."

o-o-o

Owen knew he should give Claire more than 20 minutes to respond to his text. But, dammit, how was he supposed to focus on his work now that he was too busy thinking about some (probably imaginary) custom Indoraptor weapon. Besides, it felt like he finally had a real excuse to see her again, and he wasn't about to pass that up.

After their conversation a few weeks back in the botanical gardens, he had (naively and stupidly, he knew) thought that maybe they'd just sort of pick things up again. The friendship stuff, anyway. Or, at the very least, that they'd start talking. He'd waited a couple of days for her to say something, but she hadn't.

Then, a few days later, there'd been a funny incident at the paddock when he'd had the raptors doing a drill where they had to hunt down and stack solid rubber rings. Charlie had got one stuck on her tail and been unable to get it off, the other raptors ignoring her pleas for help. He'd grabbed a quick video of Charlie hopping around, spinning in circles, before he'd gone down and managed to coax her over to the gate to pull it off. That evening he'd been watching the video and laughing when he'd had the thought that Claire would love it, and before his brain could get in the way, he'd sent it over. Only a few minutes later he'd receiving a laughing emoji response, along with: **Thanks. Definitely needed a laugh today.**

He'd debated for a couple of minutes on whether he should follow up before caving to his curiosity (and want for a connection). **What happened?**

**Nothing specific. Just a long day. Investors. **There was a short pause, but he could see the little dots indicating she was typing. **I miss your hammock on days like today.**

He had almost fallen out of said hammock when he'd read that, and unable to hold back the grin that crossed his face, he'd quickly snapped a selfie, sending it with: **It's occupied.**

There hadn't been much more to their conversation that night, but a few days later, she'd reached out, sending him a screencap of her text conversation with Gray where he was asking her about Owen and the raptors. **I think he's got some hero worship.**

In the weeks since, they'd had a few more of these little text conversations. There was never anything very personal, and neither had mentioned actually meeting up or doing anything together in person. It had felt like they were both cautiously dipping their toes into the water, seeing if it was safe to proceed. During every conversation he found himself on the verge of asking her to meet up, to go for dinner or a drink. But, that sounded almost too date-like, and while that was what he actually _wanted_, he didn't want to ask her out over text. He knew it was important that it would be clear that he was asking her on a date, not just to meet up as friends. Owen knew that he had one chance for that now. He had no excuses left. She'd told him she wasn't with James. Either he asked, or he was going to end up firmly back in the friendzone and it was over.

Now, parking his motorcycle near the Innovation Center, he berated himself again for not giving her more time to respond. He'd received Gray's text earlier — her family was there and she was probably busy. As he walked towards Main Street, he pulled out his phone and confirmed that there was no new text from her while he'd driven over. He was just debating what to do next, when he heard his name being called.

"Owen! Owen! Over here!"

Turning slowly, his eyes scanning over the crowded street, he finally locked onto Gray, the boy waving his hand wildly, while pulling the arm of the woman next to him in Owen's direction. Zach was standing beside them.

"Hey, Gray," Owen greeted the boy warmly. "And, Zach, congrats on graduating. How're you enjoying the college life?"

"It's okay," Zach shrugged.

"Owen, I thought you were busy. What are you doing here?" Gray asked.

"Gray!" the woman, who Owen assumed was Karen, chastised. "Sorry. Hi, I'm–"

"–Karen," Owen reached out to shake her hand. "Claire's told me lots about you."

"Should I be worried?" Karen asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Absolutely not. In fact, I have a feeling I'm the one of us who should be worried," Owen grinned at her. "I'm not sure I want to know what she's told you about me."

"It wasn't _all_ bad," Karen joked, and Owen laughed with her. "Besides, these two have raved about you."

"Good to know I have some fans," Owen said, before turning back to Gray. "I'm actually supposed to be at the paddock, but something came up and I'm looking for your Aunt. She hasn't responded to my text. Isn't she with you guys?"

"No, she had to go into work," Gray supplied.

"I thought you broke up?" Zach butted in. "Why are you looking for her?"

"I've got some work stuff I need to talk to her about," Owen told Zach, not sure how to deal with his comment. He hadn't expected them to know about that, considering (at least, in his opinion) there hadn't been any reason to clue in anyone who wasn't on the island. "I thought she told me she was taking time off for your visit."

"She is," Karen nodded. "But, she got a phone call just after we got here and apparently her boss showed up last minute. So she needed to go in."

"Masrani's here?" Owen was surprised. If Claire was caught up with Simon, there was no way she'd be able to meet up with him right now. He was debating what to do, now that it felt increasingly clear that his fool's errand really was foolish.

"She said it wouldn't take long," Zach told him.

"What are you guys up to?" Owen asked, after a couple moments of awkward silence. He wasn't sure how to extricate himself, mostly because he wasn't sure what to do next.

"We're just hanging out here until Aunt Claire is free," Gray said. There was a pause, then Gray looked at Owen eagerly. "Can you hang out, too?"

"Oh, um," Owen stumbled.

"He's working, Gray," Karen reminded her son.

Owen watched as Gray's face fell, and remembered Claire's comment about hero worship. He put on a big smile, shoving his hands into his pockets. "I can stay for a few minutes, in case Claire finishes up soon."

"Really?"

"Sure," Owen nodded. "Where to?" As soon as he finished, the speakers announced the upcoming T. rex feeding and Gray's face lit up. "T. rex feeding it is," Owen chuckled. He gestured to Gray. "Lead the way."

Owen wasn't all that surprised when Karen fell into step beside him, Gray and Zach out front. He matched her step, muffling a groan when she slowed down slightly so they fell back a little, out of earshot of the boys.

"So," Karen started, and Owen looked over at her warily. "You and Claire…"

Owen didn't say anything, hoping he could wait her out. Knowing that Zach knew about the break up, he felt on unequal footing. While he knew that Claire talked with her sister — after all, he'd walked in on her on the phone before — he'd never actually known what Claire had told her, and he hadn't asked. He'd always assumed she hadn't told Karen anything, since it wasn't like Karen needed to know. If her family knew they'd broken up… then Karen had to have known they were together. But, well, why would Claire have told her sister that, when it was all fake? He wasn't given time to deliberate on that, as Karen continued.

"You know, I've been bugging Claire to talk to you."

"Oh," he wasn't sure what else he could say to that.

"I was shocked last fall when she told me you guys broke up. I thought… she seemed so happy, it felt like it came out of nowhere," Karen said, as if he hadn't said anything. "Claire, she's a really private person. She doesn't usually tell me much, and, well, she never was really able to explain what happened, why things ended."

There was a long stretch of silence, as they hung at the back of the fake log in the T. rex enclosure while Gray and Zach tried to get a better view. Owen risked a glance at Karen and saw that she was just waiting him out as well, like he'd done before. To be honest, he wasn't sure how he could explain it. Not without giving away that it had been a fake relationship. How could he say that it ended because he'd tried to kiss Claire, tried to make it _real_ and she hadn't wanted it?

"Sometimes things don't work…" Owen shrugged.

"You almost sound like Claire," Karen sighed. "I was hoping you'd give me more details."

"I don't really know what to say," Owen admitted.

"But you guys are talking again now?" Karen asked.

"The past few weeks, yeah," Owen nodded, he looked towards the viewing window, feeling the tunnel vibrate as the T. rex walked nearby.

"Does that mean you're friends?"

Owen looked over at her, surprised at the hopeful tone to her voice. "Friends? Maybe." He watched as her face fell. "Why? What does it matter?"

"It doesn't. I mean, it shouldn't," Karen sighed. "I guess I just want… She's always been so alone here. I thought…"

"She's not alone," Owen disagreed.

"Claire seemed so much happier when you guys were together," Karen told him. "Like she'd finally realized there was more to life than work. And not only that, but that she wanted to explore it. We don't talk all that often, but I've talked with her a lot less since you broke up. She hasn't been the same."

"I–" Owen started before cutting himself off, not sure what to say. He hadn't really known Claire before all this. While he had thought she'd maybe changed while they were hanging out — he knew _he_ had — he had always assumed it was more that she was just letting him see the real her than anything more fundamental.

"She's never dated a lot," Karen said. "I mean, she's had relationships, but not a lot of them, and never any really serious ones. Definitely never someone she gave a key to before."

Owen struggled to not react to that comment, although he knew from the look Karen gave him that she knew. He still had the key. It had sat on his dresser for months, before he'd shoved it in the junk drawer in his kitchen. He'd never been able to get up the courage to go back to Claire's place after everything had happened, afraid he'd run into her and therefore had never returned the key. He'd kept expecting her to say something, but she hadn't.

"She really cared about you," Karen said softly, and Owen had to strain to hear her. "I think it caught her off-guard, but she really did. _Does_."

"I care about her, too," Owen said, before he could stop himself. "She's…" he chuckled, a grin appearing. "She's something else."

"That she is," Karen agreed, and the look on her face made him instantly nervous. "It's not too late, you know." Owen looked at her in surprise. "Just because you two screwed it up before doesn't mean it can't work. Or that it shouldn't work."

"Yeah, well," Owen wasn't about to admit to Karen that he'd been looking for an opportunity to ask Claire out again. The only person he wanted to have that conversation with was Claire.

"That poor goat," Gray interrupted them, although his tone was anything but sympathetic. "Did you see it, mom?"

"Bits and pieces," Karen covered.

"So much blood," Gray continued, Zach nodding beside him. "So cool."

"How about something less gory next?" Karen suggested, ushering them towards the exit. Owen moved to follow after the two teens, but Karen grabbed his arm, holding him back. "Just because we label something fake, doesn't mean it really is," Karen said.

Owen tried to keep his face blank, not wanting to give anything away. Did that mean she knew? Had Claire told her? Why? He was mentally trying to replay the past 10 minutes on double speed, what had he said?

"She was never able to fool me," Karen told him, "even if she was able to fool you. Some things are worth second chances, you know."

With that, Karen followed after her sons and Owen was left standing in the middle of the log as tourists streamed by him staring after Karen in shock. Did she mean what he thought she meant?

He was jolted out of his thoughts when his phone buzzed, and he pulled it from his pocket to see that Claire had finally replied.

* * *

_I love writing Karen so much, and so it was a lot of fun to bring her back. And Zach and Gray too. :) Nothing like some family meddling to mess with the status quo. Poor Owen. _

_I want to take a moment to give a shoutout and thanks (which I do not do **nearly** enough) to **Elise-Collier** and **Nadin** for all the time and effort they've put into this fic. It's really been a group effort. Go check out their latest. Elise recently just finished **Fifty Shades of Grady** which is just straight up fun and hot and the perfect way to end the summer. And Nadin is currently posting a short (for her) multi-chapter fic called **The Colours of the World **(over on ao3). _

_As always, it makes my day to hear from you, so please drop me a comment/review in the box below. (And then go check out the latest **Snapshot** \- yep, a new one was posted this week!)_


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23**

"I really hope Gray finds some coordination someday," Karen groaned, holding her soda drenched shirt away from her body as they walked into Claire's condo.

"He gets that from you, you know," Claire reminded her sister.

"I don't remember being that clumsy."

"You were," Claire laughed. "Remember that time when we were getting ice cream and–"

"You can stop there," Karen sighed. "I get it." She looked around Claire's place before looking back down at her shirt. "Can I borrow something?"

"Of course, bottom drawer," Claire said shooing Karen towards her bedroom. "Hey, red or white?" she asked as she walked into her kitchen.

"White," Karen called back.

Claire reached into her fridge and pulled out a bottle. She found the corkscrew and opened it and set it on the table before walking over to pull out two glasses. Putting them on the counter, she turned back to get the wine, and gasped, her hand landing on her chest, shocked to find Karen was now standing directly behind her. "Jesus, Kar."

"Sorry," Karen apologised, before lifting a shirt she was holding, an eyebrow also raising in question. A shirt Claire hadn't noticed Karen was holding at first, but now that she had…

"I meant the other drawer," Claire said lamely, reaching past Karen to grab the wine and then turning back to pour generous amounts in both glasses. There was no way she was about to have this conversation without wine. She'd been surprised that afternoon when Owen had told her he was on Main Street with her sister and nephews, and had been waiting ever since for Karen to bring him up, getting increasingly anxious when it hadn't happened all afternoon or over dinner.

"Yeah, I figured that out," Karen said, accepting the glass Claire handed her.

Claire then noticed that Karen had changed, another thing she'd missed at first. She took a large swallow of her wine, trying to buy herself some time. And then she took a second. She was realizing that while she may have been waiting all afternoon for the conversation, she had no idea what to say.

"You're not going to say anything?" Karen asked when Claire raised her glass for her third gulp.

"What's there to say," Claire shrugged.

"I know your clothes, your _taste_ in clothes, and well, this isn't it," Karen raised the shirt again. "In fact, this looks distinctly like a man's shirt. Actually," Karen pretended to think, "I think this might be just the right size for Owen."

Claire just went to take another drink from her glass, only to discover it was empty. She busied herself with refilling it.

"C'mon, give me something," Karen moaned. "I thought you said it was all fake. That you never slept with him. That you were '_just friends_.' You guys 'broke up' a year ago. What the hell, Claire? You kept his Xbox and his clothes? Not just a single shirt, either. There's a pair of pants and boxers and socks in there, too."

"I didn't–" Claire started, and then growled, setting her glass heavily on the counter, wine splashing over the rim. "We _were_ just friends. I never slept with him. Well, not the way _you're_ implying, anyway. And _I_ didn't keep this stuff. I told him to come get it. It's not my fault he never did."

"And you, what, decided it was better to keep it than return it yourself?" Karen asked, incredulous.

"No, I just…" Claire sighed. She picked up her glass again, this time walking out of the kitchen and over to her couch, slumping down onto it. "I… things ended so awkwardly. I didn't know what to do or say to him. After a week, I went by to see him. I asked him if we were still friends. And he told me that he didn't know. That he didn't want anything from me." Claire was frustrated when her voice cracked as she repeated his words. Words that had been haunting her for the past year; words that she'd never said aloud, trying to push them out of her mind.

"Claire…"

"No, don't," Claire moved away from her sister who had moved forward to give her a hug. "We had agreed it was fake. I know that. I _knew_ that. But… I wanted more. And if I couldn't, well, I had convinced myself I was fine with just being his friend. And then he didn't want that either." She let her head drop down, staring into her wine glass. She was tempted to just down it all, but she was starting to feel the effects of the first glass and knew she better slow down.

"I had a little chat with him today," Karen said after a short pause, and Claire whipped her head around to look at her, the blood draining from her face as she worried over what Karen might have said. "I really think you're both being idiots. I mean, you're smart, Claire. And from the little I know about Owen, he is, too. But, somehow, you're both blind when it comes to each other."

"I'm not blind," Claire protested.

"You are," Karen said, reaching out to pat Claire on the knee. "Or you were. But, I think, maybe, you're both starting to open your eyes."

"What did he say?" Claire's eyes narrowed. "What did you ask him?"

"That's between us," Karen said, her grin evil. She settled back onto the couch, taking a sip of her wine.

"You can't leave it there," Claire objected. "What did you say? Please don't tell me you were meddling. You'll make things worse, Karen."

"I wasn't meddling," Karen said defensively. "I _may_ have suggested that just because it didn't work out before, doesn't mean it can't." Claire opened her mouth to interrupt, but Karen held up a hand, continuing. "He cares about you, Claire. That much is more than clear."

"Did _he_ say that?" Claire asked, not sure she was willing to take her sister at her word. Not when she knew that Karen seemed to have an overly romanticized view of what Claire's relationship with Owen should be.

"He did," Karen nodded. "You should've seen the way his face lit up when he saw you. He's not at all good at hiding his feelings. You really need to talk to him."

"He's the one who said we couldn't be friends. If he wants more, he needs to ask," Claire said, knowing that she sounded petty even as she said it. "I'm not putting myself out there again."

"Again? Asking if you're friends is not putting yourself out there," Karen disagreed. "I think you've both been too busy worried about the other's reaction that you're holding back out of fear, and then making assumptions. And you know what they say about assuming…"

"Ugh, that line is tired," Claire groaned. She took a sip of her wine, buying herself a couple of moments as she thought over Karen's words. "I'll think about it."

"You know, it says something that he left all his stuff here," Karen said. "It's one thing to forget about a shirt or a toothbrush. That's minor. But it's more than that. I don't think he wanted to break the connection either." Claire wasn't sure how to respond to that. She'd always assumed he'd left everything because he didn't want to have anything to do with her. "Do you think they're okay?"

"Who? Zach and Gray?" Claire asked, surprised by the context switch, sure her sister was going to ask more, _pry_ more. "They're teenage boys on vacation hanging out at the pool without their mom and aunt. I think they're more than fine."

"Yeah," Karen sighed. "I'm happy that they're growing up. And that they're independent. But there are days I miss when they wanted me around."

"Do you want me to remind you of this tomorrow, when your hoping they'll go off and leave you so you can read your book by said pool?" Claire asked, quickly dodging the pillow Karen threw at her.

"You'd get this if you had kids," Karen said, her tone sounding accusing to Claire. And there was another topic Claire had hoped to avoid on this visit. "You know, you and Owen–"

"No, don't go there," Claire said, pointing a finger at Karen. "We're not talking about that. Not now, not ever, preferably. If you want to talk about relationships, why don't you tell me about this Jake person Gray mentioned."

o-o-o

"What's going on?"

"What do you mean?" Owen looked over at Barry.

"Why are you so antsy?" Barry clarified. "That's got to be the tenth time you've looked over there in the last five minutes." Barry looked in the direction Owen had been. "Wait, are you waiting for someone? Who's coming?"

"No one," Owen deflected, before glancing, again, at the road that led to the paddock.

"Right," Barry said, rolling his eyes. "You know, I'll know when whoever it is shows up, right?"

"Claire's nephews are visiting again," Owen confessed. "I told her they could come by today."

"So, you two are finally talking again?" Barry asked. "_Enfin!_"

"Hey," Owen objected.

"I can't believe it took you a _year_," Barry shook his head.

"It hasn't been a year," Owen said. "I talked with her in the summer. And a few weeks ago."

"Yelled at her in the summer is what I heard," Barry muttered.

"Had a… heated discussion," Owen amended. "But, it's fine. We're fine."

"Really?" Barry looked intrigued. "What does that mean? Are you friends now?"

"I don't know," Owen admitted. "We're… talking. It's a start, okay?"

"If you move any slower you're going to start going backwards," Barry said, before motioning towards where Owen had been watching and preempting Owen's response. "Looks like they're here."

Owen looked out to see Claire's car now parked, the doors opening as Claire, her sister, and her nephews climbed out. He pulled out the rag he kept in his back pocket and wiped his hands as he moved towards the stairs, ignoring Barry's muffled laughter behind him.

"Hey," Owen greeted the group, meeting them at the bottom of the stairs, unable to hold back his smile as his gaze got stuck on Claire. He always had loved when Claire put aside her business suits for more casual wear. He'd taken the opportunity as he'd walked towards them to give her a once over. She was wearing shorts and a t-shirt, and he couldn't help but think that the dress she'd worn to the wedding had nothing on the shorts she was wearing now for showing off her legs, even if she was wearing a pair of Converse and not heels.

"Can we go see them now?"

Gray's eager request drew Owen's attention away from Claire. He ignored Karen's knowing smirk, focusing on Gray instead. "Absolutely. Let me grab a bucket of rats first."

"Rats? Yuck. I don't remember you saying anything about rats, Gray," Karen complained with a visible shudder. "You know how much I hate rats."

"They're not alive," Gray reassured his mom. "They're raptor treats."

"How is that better? Please tell me I don't have to go near them," Karen's worried tone almost made Owen laugh out loud. He decided to let Gray deal with Karen's questions and headed for the storage area.

It wasn't until he had taken almost a dozen steps away that he realized that Claire was following him.

"Something up?" Owen asked, slowing his pace ever so slightly until she was beside him.

"I looked into the gun," Claire told him, her voice low.

"Did you find something?"

"I should probably say I _tried_ to look into it," Claire corrected. "I couldn't find out much. Did confirm that something custom was made, but that's about it. Nothing about what makes it unique."

"Hmm," Owen hummed, grabbing a bucket and moving over to the fridge and filling it with rats. He noticed that Claire stayed a few steps away, but decided not to comment. Closing the fridge door, he turned to face Claire. "It doesn't make sense. There's no reason they should need anything custom. Not unless there's something about the Indoraptors they're not telling us."

"Something like what?" Claire asked, and Owen could hear her unease in her tone.

"That," he picked up the bucket and started walking back towards her family, "I don't know. Could be as innocuous as something like needing a more powerful gun to be able to get tranq darts through their skin. Who knows what other species they combined them with, after all."

"And if it's not innocuous?" Claire asked, reaching out and resting a hand on his arm. They stopped just out of hearing range of her family.

"We know the military has always been interested in the dinosaurs. Maybe they've got something experimental they want to test out. Hoskins knows I'd never allow something like that here. Maybe it's some sort of new non-lethal, like a new type of taser." Owen shrugged before starting forward again.

"What do you suggest we do?"

"We?"

"Well, yeah," Claire said, pulling him to a stop again. "If there's something going on…"

"We still don't know if there is," Owen reminded her.

"You're the one who came to me, remember?" Claire huffed.

"I know," Owen grumbled. "I wish I knew how to stop them. I wish they were never born. But, _nothing's happened_. And we don't know if anything will. I guess I hoped the gun would turn out to mean something, and maybe it will, but, for now, I think we're stuck."

"I hate this," Claire said, stomping her foot, and Owen had to bite back his chuckle, knowing it would be misconstrued.

"Me, too," Owen agreed. "But," he looked over at her family who were watching the two of them curiously, "for now, I've got some raptors to show off."

"I thought they weren't for show," Claire teased, as the two started walking again.

"They're not. But that doesn't mean I'm not allowed to be proud of them and want others to see that," Owen said, before turning to the others. "Okay, let's head up."

o-o-o

Owen was still riding high from how well the raptors had behaved for him, following his commands perfectly and showing off for Claire and the others. There had been a moment, at the start, when he'd worried that everything was going to go off the rails.

He'd watched, uncertain as to what was happening, when the raptors had come out when he'd called, only to immediately freeze, staring up at the catwalk. While it was normal for them to pause and examine visitors, their heads tilted to the side as they would appear to be sizing the new people up, this had felt different. He'd watched as their gazes had gone down the line, looking over Zach, Gray and Karen first, before settling on Claire. And then, after staring for a few moments, they had looked at each other, chittering loudly, before turning to look up at Owen, and then over at Claire again. They had repeated the cycle a few times, from Owen to Claire to each other.

"What's going on?" Claire had asked, looking over at him with apprehension. "Why are they looking at me like that? What did I do?"

"Nothing," Owen had replied.

He hadn't been sure if he should admit what he had thought was going on. That the raptors, who had become used to Claire's relatively regular appearances at the paddock seemed to be intrigued and interested in her sudden return. While he'd never been able to convince Claire to get close to the raptors — she'd always choose to stay on the outside of the holding pen — they had been aware of her presence. Often, those who weren't currently in their harnesses would come over to the gate to see what was going on when she was around. He had never been sure what it was about her that interested them. But, whatever it was, it clearly hadn't gone away.

He'd managed to finally distract the raptors, regaining their focus, and running them through some drills. Gray's and Zach's amazement at the raptors' progress from what they had observed two years earlier had made Owen puff up in pride. Even Claire had seemed impressed. Karen had just hugged the paddock wall, clearly not as enthused by the raptors, and trying to stay as far away from the bucket of rats as she could.

The only downside to their visit was that Barry had been bugging him about it all afternoon. Wondering what he and Claire had been talking about, and reading too much into every look, word and action either he or Claire had taken. It had been annoying and frustrating, to say the least.

To the point that Owen was _almost_ happy when he saw Hoskins show up, as he knew that Barry would back off on his comments with Hoskins nearby. Hoskins, however, hadn't been by for over a month, supposedly too busy over on Sorna supervising the construction, and his unexpected appearance made Owen's gut churn.

"Hoskins, what an… unexpected surprise," Owen said as Hoskins joined him and Barry on the catwalk.

"Got to keep you on your toes," Hoskins replied, looking over the railing. "Where are they?"

"Your timing's off," Barry informed him. "We just finished a training session, so they'll be hiding out in the jungle for a while."

"Progress?" Hoskins asked.

"It's been a good day," Owen nodded. "Why are you here?"

"Always want to get straight to the point, don't you?" Hoskins pushed away from the railing, turning to Owen and Barry. "No time for small talk."

"I've got things to do," Owen said, annoyed. "I don't like having my time wasted."

"Updating your boss on what you've been up to isn't a waste of time," Hoskins said, hands planted on his hips. "It's part of your job."

"Which I do, by sending you those damn weekly reports," Owen just said mildly. "Don't tell me you came all the way out here just to ask a question. We've got phones and email, you know."

"We finished construction this week," Hoskins said. "Well, 90% done. Enough that I want to start planning moving the raptors. Next week, ideally. Time to finally get this field test in motion."

"Next week?" Owen could help but sound horrified. He'd known that this day was going to come at some point, but as week after week had gone by with no updates, and as Hoskins hadn't given him any idea of a timeline, he'd begun to think Hoksins had run into some roadblocks and that maybe the whole idea was going to get shot down. Owen should've known he was being too optimistic with those thoughts.

"Tuesday, to be exact," Hoskins said. "I've already got a boat and I've been talking with Dr. Wu and the vets about figuring out the proper doses to give the raptors so we can safely transport them."

"How long are we going for" Barry asked.

"We're planning for four weeks," Hoskins told them. "Initially, anyway. We'll see how it goes and whether we want to extend it. With the extra space and paddock design changes you two requested, I think we may want to permanently move the operation. But that's still under discussion."

"You're giving us five days notice and we'll be gone for four weeks?" Owen asked. And talk about terrible timing. How was he supposed to ask Claire out now? "_Hey, do you want to go on a date in four weeks, maybe longer?" _

"Hey, you've known this was coming," Hoskins reminded them. "This is your job. I asked you to plan out the transition two months ago. Now, all you need to do is follow through on it."

"You're an ass, you know that, right?" Owen said. "There's no way you just decided on Tuesday. You could've given us more heads up."

"You don't check your email," Hoskins replied, moving back along the catwalk away from them. "Or pick up your phone. Don't make it so hard to contact you and you won't feel blindsided."

Owen watched as Hoskins disappeared down the stairs before turning back to Barry. "Fuck."

"_Merde_," Barry agreed.

"Dammit," Owen slammed his hand on the railing. "How does he always have _the worst_ timing possible?"

Barry just shrugged. "We'd better start prepping."

o-o-o

Claire felt guilty for abandoning her sister and nephews for a second time during their visit, but only a little. It wasn't that she didn't want to see them, but after the last day and a half of non-stop togetherness, she was grateful for the break and the chance to check in on work. And it wasn't as if her sister and nephews would be bored without her. Karen had decided to spend some time with her book by the pool while Zach and Gray had said they were going to head out to the gyrospheres.

Now, arriving at Paddock 11 with Masrani, Claire was reconsidering her relief to be at work. Why couldn't Masrani have wanted a tour of the petting zoo?

"Are we on schedule for the opening?" Masrani asked as they climbed the stairs to the viewing room.

"We are," Claire confirmed. "Investors are locked in. Preparations are being done for the opening. Invitations have been sent. While James has been planning a… routine, if you will, for the Indoraptors, we have decided to delay that a couple of months to get them used to the constant stream of visitors coming by first. James was worried that they might be thrown by that and we want the show to go off with as few glitches as possible."

"Hmm," Masrani said, moving towards the window to look down into the viewing room. "And so James has been a success?"

"He has," Claire said. "The inclusion of the behaviourist has definitely made a difference. We have had minimal incidents over the past year. There's always stuff that happens, but there's been nothing out of the ordinary. Not like with the Indominus. I've had no complaints by any of the other staff positioned out here." She cringed as she said that, even though she knew she was telling the truth. Things _had_ been good. Everything running like a well-oiled machine. It almost felt like things were _too _good. She'd been waiting for something to happen, anything, that she could at least use to confirm her suspicions.

"Good, good," Masrani nodded.

Claire left him at the window and went over to talk to the ACU guard, Trooper Lee, who was watching the security feeds. "Is James around?" she asked. "Can you get him to come out?"

After getting confirmation, Claire rejoined Masrani, who was watching the two Indoraptors below. They weren't doing much, appearing to be basking in the sun, Curie stretched out over a log, while Hopper was curled up beside her.

"They're big," Masrani said.

"They have grown quickly," Claire nodded. "They're about 18 feet long now and almost nine feet tall. Henry informs me they should be almost fully grown."

"Claire," James's voice came from behind them and they both turned. "And Mr. Masrani. What a nice surprise."

"Sorry to be unexpectedly dropping by," Claire apologized. "But Mr. Masrani had some time last minute and wanted to get a preview of some of your results."

"Absolutely," James said eagerly. "I'm always happy to show off what we've been up to. My girls are growing up so fast. Give me a few minutes and I can take you out on the catwalk."

"Oh, that's not necessary," Claire quickly said. "We want to see it as the guests would."

"Are you sure?" James looked over at Masrani. "It's no problem."

"Don't let us get in your way," Masrani replied. "We'll be fine here."

James nodded before leaving the room, telling them "two minutes."

While they waited, Claire used the opportunity to discuss some remaining park business and to schedule a couple of meetings. James was true to his word, and only a couple of minutes later they saw him on the catwalk. He waved at them, before focusing his attention on the Indoraptors below who had both perked up when they'd heard him.

As James got set up, Claire took the opportunity to scan the rest of the paddock, noting the two ACU men who had gone out with him, taking up positions around the outside. That was… odd. Or was it? She was trying to remember if she'd seen them on the catwalk during her previous visits. And then rethinking her visit to the raptor paddock the day before. She'd never really paid attention to who else was up there, besides Owen and Barry, but, now that she thought about it, maybe there had been some ACU as well. That would make sense, she supposed, in case anything happened.

"Can you hear me?" James voice echoing around the room startled Claire, and she looked around briefly, as if expecting him in the room with her, before looking back out the window. She saw that he was looking over at her and Masrani. She gave him a thumbs up and he nodded back. "Great. While you'll be able to hear me, I can't hear you. We thought it would be a nice addition, that I could talk to the crowd and explain what I'm doing directly instead of having someone else in there. Let me run through some of the simpler drills first."

As the Indoraptors 'performed,' Claire found herself mostly jumping between watching James and watching Masrani. Both seemed thrilled with what was happening. She could practically see dollar signs in Masrani's eyes.

"So, those are the main things we'll probably show guests," James told them, as he finished up, tossing rats down to the Indoraptors. "But I do have some other things I've been working on. As you know, Mr. Masrani, Hoskins and InGen have also been supporting this project."

At his words, Claire felt the blood starting to drain from her face, and she turned to look at Masrani in shock. What had been going on? Why hadn't she been informed? These dinosaurs were supposed to be just an attraction, _right?_

"As part of that, we've been working on some side drills. Now, these aren't things we'd be showing the guests, of course, but I thought you'd be interested in seeing some of our progress."

Claire dimly saw Masrani nodding with excitement, moving closer to the glass. She could feel her hands starting to tremble, and she shoved them into her pockets, trying to hide her nervousness. She felt her phone and gripped it tightly. Owen was going to freak out when she told him. Which was fine, she decided, since she was freaking out now.

"I'm particularly excited to show off our pulse-coded laser targeting system," James told them and Claire watched as he moved towards one of the ACU men, accepting a rifle that the man handed over. "With this gun, I first use the laser to set a target for the Indoraptors. Once they are locked onto the target, with a simple press of a button, the acoustic signal triggers them to attack. Now, we've only had this for a couple of weeks, so we're still working out the kinks. But, let me show you what we've managed. I'm going to have them release a goat into the paddock." Claire and Masrani watched as a small gate opened and a goat emerged. "Note how Hopper and Curie are holding back. Normally, they wouldn't be able to fight their instinct and would immediately attack. But I'm holding down the button, and that commands them to wait until the target is selected and I release. Let me do that now."

Claire watched as a red dot she hadn't initially noticed moved across the paddock floor until it centered on the back of the goat. She looked over at the Indoraptors and realized that they had followed the dot as well, their gazes now locked on the goat. She could see drool dripping from their mouths.

"And go!" James commanded, and the dot disappeared. while there was no sound when he released the trigger, it had the same effect of a gun going off at the start of a race, the Indoraptors leaping forward towards the goat, who let out a terrified bleat before racing towards the trees. It was, of course, too slow, and it was over in seconds. The Indoraptors each grabbing an end of the goat, ripping it in half. Claire turned away from the window, not wanting to witness what was happening, her own stomach rolling.

"We've got a way to go with our testing," James told them. "If I had waited any longer, they would've attacked anyway. It only holds their focus for about 15 – 20 seconds right now. We need to increase that."

Claire turned back in time to see James putting down the gun, resting it against the wall behind him. She looked back down and saw Hopper was circling around, staring up at James. She looked around, wondering where Curie had disappeared to.

A large _crack_ made her jump, and then a tree came crashing down. Well, _started_ to come crashing down. It stopped part way, when its upper branches got stuck on the catwalk.

Horrified, Claire watched, stunned, as Curie reappeared on all fours. The increased dexterity of her arms and hands was on full display as she half-climbed, half-ran up the tree, as if it was a ramp to the catwalk. Hopper quickly followed her sister. Claire felt her senses tunneling, her vision sharpening while at the same time everything sounded muffled. She was aware, vaguely, of James yelling commands and of the ACU men on the catwalk raising their guns and firing.

_Non-lethals. _The thought went through her as she watched the Indoraptors easily dodge most of the shots. But even those that landed appeared to have no effect. The Indoraptors scrambled onto the catwalk, dividing and conquering, each taking out one of the ACU men first, before they converged on James.

It was the sound of his scream being abruptly cut off that brought Claire back into the present. She looked around the room at Masrani who was staring out the window stunned, then over to Trooper Lee, who was sitting at the security feeds, looking just as stunned.

"Can they get in here?" Claire demanded, looking back out the window to see the Indoraptors traversing the catwalk. She was suddenly aware that only a door and some glass separated them. "Can we lock this area down?"

"Right, of course," Lee stammered. He reached out, slamming his hand against a red button on the wall. Immediately, red lights started flashing and alarms were blaring. "They can't get in. We're safe. It's okay."

"Fuck!" Claire exclaimed, turning back to the window just in time to see the Indoraptors were now climbing the side of the paddock and scrambling over the top. "They're getting out." She pulled her phone from her pocket, dialing the control room. "Lowery? We've got a Code 19."

* * *

_And they're off! Well, er, out. Poor James (_😈_ — I mean _😟_)._

_Arnold said it best - "Hold onto your butts."_


	24. Chapter 24

_Sorry for the late post tonight. I spent the day hanging out with Nadin in person (!) which was a blast. Fandom and real life collided. But, just got home and had to re-read/edit._

**Chapter 24**

"Lowery? We've got a Code 19," Claire barked into the phone, her gaze locked out the viewing room window, watching as the Indoraptors disappeared from sight. "I'm at Paddock 11 with Mr. Masrani."

"_The Indoraptors? Both of them?"_

"Yes, they're both out." No longer able to see the Indoraptors, Claire joined Trooper Lee over at the monitors so she could study the security feeds. She couldn't see the Indoraptors on any of them.

"_Claire, the tracking system shows them in the paddock_," Lowery told her. "_Are you sure they're out?_"

"I watched them climb out myself," Claire said. "They've already killed James and two of the ACU. I don't know where they are now. I need help getting eyes on them. I'm looking at the security feeds here, but we can't see them."

"Maybe they're on the walls?" Trooper Lee suggested. "Our cameras don't cover everything. There was no reason to watch the top of the paddock. The feeds cover the inside, the catwalks and most of the surrounding ground area outside."

"Can you pull up the tracking here?" Claire asked him and he nodded. One of the monitors that had been showing the inside of the paddock changed to a zoomed-in map of Nublar, with the paddock in the center. Two dots showed the Indoraptors right along the paddock walls, not quite in but not quite out.

A couple of loud _thumps_ made the three of them look up. They were followed quickly by a second set.

"I think they're on top of us," Lee said, still looking up at the ceiling.

"Can they get in?" Claire asked.

"No," Lee reassured. "The viewing area is designed to do double duty as a bunker."

"Found one," Masrani's shaky voice caught their attention and Claire and the Trooper turned around.

Masrani was still standing over by the viewing room windows, having not moved from where he had froze earlier. Except, now instead of looking down into the paddock, he was staring slightly up at the top edge. Following his gaze, Claire almost jumped back, as she saw one of the Indoraptors, Curie, staring right back at her. Curie was leaning over the edge of the roof, hanging down to peer in at them.

"Oh god…" Claire moaned, watching as Curie looked around the room, one of her arms stretching down and tapping her claws against the glass, almost as if she was testing it.

"_What's going on?_" Lowery's panicked voice broke through Claire's temporary paralysis. "_Did you find them?_"

"At least one is on the roof of the viewing room," Claire told him. "They're definitely out. I don't know where the other is. Probably up there with her."

"_Hamada and his team are suiting up. They will be headed out in two minutes. ETA is 15._"

"Okay," Claire said, her mind racing. Fifteen minutes was too long. Too much could happen before the team could get there. Even if they could convince the Indoraptors to climb back into the paddock, the tree remained leaning against the catwalk, providing them an easy exit. She needed them to be subdued, and fast. Before they left the paddock area. Before they got anywhere near any guests. She needed them contained. "Lowery, I need you to keep watch on the trackers. Hopefully, we can keep them here, but if we can't…"

"_On it_," Lowery confirmed. There was a brief pause before Lowery asked, hesitantly, "_Are _you _safe?_"

"I'm fine," Claire said. "The viewing room seems to be holding. Right now, at least they seem to be interested in us, which should buy ACU some time to get here."

"_Interested in you? What do you mean?_"

"They're looking at us through the window," Claire told him. "It's a little unnerving, but…"

"_The ACU team is on their way,_" Lowery updated her. "_They're moving as fast as they can._"

"I think maybe something has caught their attention," Masrani said. "They've both pulled away and I can no longer see them."

Lee picked up his radio, and reached out to the two ACU guards who were stationed on the outside of the paddock. As Claire listened to him talk to them, she realized she'd completely forgotten that there were others there. That the paddock had been busy with techs and guards when they'd arrived. She hoped they'd been able to use the time the Indoraptors had been distracted to get to safety. That there wasn't about to be a second massacre. Watching James and the two ACU members die had been more than enough.

"Andrews and Smith said they can see the Indoraptors now. They're too far away to stun. But they've got them in sight," Lee told them. "They'll keep us updated."

"What about everyone else?" Claire asked.

"Evacuated into the storage bunker," Lee let her know a moment later, having passed the question along.

Claire let out a relieved sigh. At least some people were safe. She reminded herself that the ACU team was on its way. They were going to be able to contain them. It was going to be okay.

"Wait, someone's here. There's a car," Lee said, eyebrows furrowed as he watched the monitors.

"ACU?" Claire asked, but she knew it couldn't be. It was too soon.

"No, just a single park jeep," Lee shook his head. "Were you guys expecting anyone?"

"_They're on the move_," Lowery's voice coming through her phone reminded Claire that she hadn't hung up. She looked over at the monitor just in time to see the Indoraptors were now on the staircase that led to the viewing room. For a horrifying second she thought they were going to turn around and try to break in, but instead, they descended the stairs partway before leaping lightly to the ground, landing just in front of the jeep as it pulled to a stop.

o-o-o

Owen was in the middle of his training session when someone racing up the stairs to the catwalk distracted both him and the raptors. He turned, expecting to see someone like Hoskins or one of the new techs, and was surprised to see that it was Barry.

"There's a Code 19," Barry shouted. "Asset out of containment."

"What asset?" Owen asked, a feeling of dread washing over him. He knew what the answer was going to be. There were very few assets that would make Barry look that worried, and four of them were currently staring up at them.

"Paddock 11. The Indoraptors," Barry confirmed.

"I'm hearing we've already lost two guys," an ACU member who was standing guard on the catwalk called out.

"Only two?" Owen couldn't help asking, looking over at the guard. He was genuinely surprised the number was that low, especially if they were out. Maybe they weren't as vicious as he thought. Had he misjudged them?

"It's not clear," the guard said. "Maybe three. Early reports still."

"Where are they now?" Owen turned back to Barry. "Control must be tracking them, right?"

"Probably," Barry agreed. "But all I've seen so far is the Code 19."

"Okay," Owen looked around, feeling the nervous energy in the air. For a moment, his mind blanked on what the proper response was before it came rushing back. "Right. Everyone listen up!" He let out a loud whistle, gaining the attention of both the raptors and everyone else. "A Code 19 means we need to move everyone into secure positions. That means everyone who is _not_ ACU or myself or Barry needs to head immediately into the office building. You will remain in there until the Code 19 is over or we get updated evacuation instructions. Do you understand?" He waited until he saw some nods. "Okay, those of you that it applies to, GO. Everyone else, get over here."

It took a couple of minutes for everyone to sort themselves out and Owen used the opportunity to dismiss the raptors who were impatiently waiting for him to finish. He wasn't surprised when they chose to remain in the open area instead of disappearing into the jungle. The change in routine — and the increased activity — would not have escaped their attention and curiosity.

Turning to the five ACU currently assigned to the raptor paddock, Owen took command. "Okay, first things first, we need to recheck all the paddock gates and security measures. Meyers, you need to get in contact with Hamada and find out if they want you to all stay put or if they need assistance. If he asks, I would like to keep at least two of you here. Barry and I will arm ourselves as well. We're probably best positioned up here where we can keep an eye on the raptors as well as the surrounding area." He waited while everyone nodded. "Great, Meyers, let me know what you find out. Everyone else, security check."

There was a quick round of acknowledgements before everyone broke away, going off to do their assigned task. Soon, it was just Barry and Owen in the middle of the catwalk. Well, them, and the four raptors who were still staring up curiously. "I need to grab my phone," Owen told Barry. "Can you get another bucket of rats. We may need something to distract them."

"I'll get our guns too," Barry told Owen. "Meet you back up here."

Owen nodded, watching as Barry left. He took a couple of minutes to try to dismiss the raptors again, even giving them all a round of rats just because, but, while they gobbled them down, they were clearly too interested in the change of routine. Deciding it didn't actually make a difference, he started down the stairs. He needed to get into the office to grab his phone. And he also wanted to check to make sure that everyone else was safely holed up as directed.

Reaching the bottom steps, he was interrupted by Meyers, who informed him that for now, she'd been told to stay put. That a team was out tracking the Indoraptors as they spoke and they did not yet see a need for additional reinforcements.

Once Owen made it into the building, he checked on everyone else first, and confirmed they were all good. None of them looked even remotely worried. In fact, the crew generally just looked like it was any normal breaktime. Someone had pulled out a deck of cards and a few were in the middle of a poker game, while others were on the couch or fiddling with their phones. After reminding them that they were to stay in there until Owen gave the all clear, he asked two to come with him. He grabbed his phone from his office and then, as he left the building, he had the two that accompanied him lock and barricade the door from the inside.

Unlike many of the various attractions across the park, the raptor paddock didn't have a full on bunker. Instead, they were left with the limited protection of their small office building. Owen wasn't all that convinced that it would hold up to the Indoraptors, but he was hoping it wasn't going to come to that.

Finally feeling free of immediate responsibilities, he pulled out his phone to check it as he headed back up to the catwalk. He was surprised to see there were a couple of missed messages from Claire. Unlocking his phone, he opened up their message history.

**I might be able to find out more about the Indoraptor gun today**. While the first message would normally have made him interested enough to reply, it was the second message that froze him in his tracks. **Masrani wants a tour of paddock 11.**

What time had she sent that message? When was she going? Could she be there _now_? He quickly checked the timestamps, letting out a sigh of relief when he saw that they were from a couple of hours ago. She had probably already been there and was back with her family by now, or in the control room.

**What's going on? How did they get out? **Owen sent off the questions to Claire before climbing the rest of the stairs to the top. Meeting up with Barry, he accepted the rifle Barry handed over.

"I know it's supposed to be non-lethals first," Barry said quietly, "But there's enough people with those. I thought we better have at least a couple of us actually armed."

"Good call," Owen agreed. "If they've already killed, I don't think we want to be messing around with them. I don't care how much they fucking cost." He looked down at his phone, only partly surprised that Claire hadn't answered yet. She was probably caught up in executing the Code 19, he reminded himself. Texting him back wouldn't be her priority.

He couldn't help himself from sending one more message. **You're okay, right? **

o-o-o

Claire could faintly hear Lowery's voice echoing through her phone, but she no longer had it up by her ear, her focus glued to the monitors and the standoff between the park jeep and the Indoraptors. She could feel her phone vibrating as well, text messages coming through, but she didn't care. Nothing could be more important than what she was seeing right now.

It felt like time had stopped, as no one appeared to be moving or even breathing, everyone instead frozen in their spots. She knew it couldn't last. That it _wouldn't_ last. She was right.

As if on cue, everyone started to move at once. From either side of the screen, she watched as Troopers Andrews and Smith appeared, firing tasers at the Indoraptors. At the same time, the jeep started to back away, just as the Indoraptors leapt forward in unison.

Claire couldn't tell if any of the tasers were landing, but what she _could_ tell, was that if they were, they were having no effect. The Indoraptors were completely ignoring the ACU. One of them had landed on top of the jeep, and Claire could see the roof crushing slightly under its weight. The other had landed on the front hood, tilting the jeep and causing the back wheels to come off the ground. While the Indoraptor on top — she couldn't make out who, the security feed was in black and white — remained there, the other scrambled off, clawing at the door until it could rip it away.

Claire bit back a scream, her hand clasped over her mouth, as the Indoraptor ripped out whoever had been in the jeep. She looked away, unable to stomach the idea of watching another person die.

Why aren't Andrews and Smith taking them down," Masrani demanded, having moved to stand beside Claire, his own gaze focused on the monitors. "They're right there."

"They're trying," Lee replied. "The tasers don't seem to be having any effect."

Claire lifted her phone back to her ear, watching as the Indoraptors turned from the jeep to the two ACU men who were shooting at them. "Where's the ACU team?" she asked Lowery.

"_Five minutes_," Lowery replied after a short pause.

"They're going to be too late," Claire said, watching as the Indoraptors again divided and conquered, Andrews and Smith having no chance once they were targeted. This time the Indoraptors threw aside the bodies, before they both rose up on their hind legs and looked around, _searching_. Although, what for, she wasn't sure. A minute later, they turned to their left and bolted into the bushes. "You're tracking them, right?" Claire asked. "We've just lost visual."

"_I am_," Lowery confirmed. "_They appear to be heading due east._"

"Update Hamada. There's no point in them coming here now," Claire told him. "They'll need to intercept them somewhere else."

"_On it_," Lowery said.

Claire took a moment to check her phone. She could see a string of missed messages. She scanned the names — her sister, Owen, Zara. Oh god, her sister and nephews were there. Her sister should be fine, she reminded herself, she was at the pool at the resort. And her nephews were planning on the gyrospheres, which were on the west side of the island and the Indoraptors were headed east. While the thought eased her mind slightly, she knew that there were more people she needed to be worried about. Guests who would be spread all across the island, not just safely tucked away.

"Lowery?" Claire asked again, checking to see if he was back on the line.

"_Uh huh?_"

"I want to close everything north of the resort. We need to enact Phase One."

"_Got it_."

"Now wait a second," Masrani interrupted her. "They aren't anywhere near the guests and ACU is already on its way to handle it. There's no need to cause widespread panic."

"They've already killed _six_ people," Claire reminded him. "We can't afford to wait."

"There is no danger to the guests, not yet," Masrani insisted.

"Which is exactly when we should be evacuating them," Claire said firmly. "We can't predict that the Indoraptors won't turn south."

"_They're moving really fast,_" Lowery informed her. "_But still headed east for now_."

"Start the evacuation," Claire repeated, her gaze still locked on Masrani. "When Hamada's team captures them, we can reopen those areas of the park. But for now, let's play it safe."

"_Done_," Lowery said a moment later, and Claire could just make out Vivian's voice in the background calling out that they were now in a _Phase One, real world, bring everybody in_. "_What are you going to do next?_"

"Keep me updated on ACU's position, Masrani and I are coming in," Claire told him.

"_Are you sure that's wise?_"

"They're not here anymore. We'll be more help from control. We'll be there in ten." Claire hung up the phone before she turned to Lee. "I need you to evacuate the paddock. We don't know if they'll come back here. Let's get the workers out while we can. Take them over to emergency bunker 12." She waited for Lee to agree, before she looked at Masrani. "Come on, we better go."

The three of them left the viewing room cautiously, Lee leading the way with his gun out, although it didn't feel like much protection, not after watching the Indoraptors ignore all the hits from the tasers earlier. Claire tried not to look at the mangled bodies the Indoraptors had left behind. At the base of the stairs, Claire and Masrani went straight for the helicopter they had flown over in. At the time, Claire had thought it was overkill and a waste to do so, instead of just taking a car, as the island was so small, but now she was thankful. She knew she'd feel safer in the air than on the ground.

After buckling in and waiting for Masrani to power it up so they could take off, she pulled out her phone again. Pulling up the messages, she quickly skimmed her sister's (asking about lunch) and Zara's (reminding her about some forms she needed to sign) before looking at Owen's. For a moment she was confused by how he already knew something had happened, before she remembered that the Code 19 would've been broadcast to all employees. She was about to tap out a reply when her phone rang and she saw Lowery's name on the screen. Taking a deep breath, she answered him instead.

"What's going on?" Claire shouted into the phone, the whirling of the helicopter blades making it difficult to hear. She raised her other hand up to plug her other ear.

She could barely make out Lowery's reply. "_Assuming the Indoraptors maintain their course, the ACU team is in position. ETA two minutes._"

"Thanks. We're on our way." Claire hung up the phone, pulling on the headphones Masrani had handed over and watching as the ground fell away below them as they rose into the air. She looked over to the east, almost expecting to be able to see the Indoraptors or some sign of them, but there was no trace of the two deadly dinosaurs that she knew were racing below the canopy.

o-o-o

Owen was pacing along the catwalk, unable to stay still. He kept checking his phone, hoping for a reply from Claire or, even better, an update that the Code 19 was over. He didn't like not knowing what was going on.

The raptors had continued to remain in the open area, and he paused to look down at them. Delta and Charlie were both basking in the sun, while Blue had been keeping pace below him, walking back and forth with him. Echo had been over by the gate for the holding pen, staring through it, although Owen didn't know what she was looking at.

"Any updates?" Barry asked as Owen paced by him on another pass.

"Not yet."

"Have you heard from Claire?" Barry pressed.

"No," Owen said. "I've sent her a message, but she's probably busy. I'm sure she's caught up in the response."

"Yeah," Barry agreed. "If she was with her family before, she'd be in the control room now."

"Just heard that they've initiated a Phase One," Meyers said as she approached the two. "They're bringing everyone in north of the resort."

"Does that include us?" Barry asked.

"No," Owen replied before Meyers could. "It's about the guests and non-essential personnel. That means the Indoraptors must be still up here on the north side. If we knew where they were, I'd suggest evacuating our guys, but I think that might be worse than sitting still."

"I agree," Meyers said. "Hamada has a team out and should be intercepting them momentarily. We'll know more soon."

o-o-o

Claire fidgeted impatiently in the elevator, mentally willing it to go faster as she descended to the control room. She knew from the final update she'd got from Lowery as they were landing, that the ACU team was struggling against the Indoraptors. She was afraid what she was going to find out.

She pushed her way into the room as soon as the elevator doors started to open, and the quiet hum that was usually present in the room fell away, as all eyes turned to her. While she knew Masrani was right behind her, she also knew they were all looking at her for direction, not him.

"What happened?" Claire asked, her voice barely above a whisper, but in the quiet of the room it sounded like she was shouting.

"It didn't work," Lowery was the only one brave enough to reply.

"Did anyone…" Claire didn't even finish her question before Lowery was already shaking his head no. "Oh god." She took a deep breath, steadying herself, and then stood taller. She needed to be the leader. She needed to show she was in control. "Where are they now?"

"They've continued moving east," Lowery said, and he pointed to the map that took over most of the giant screen in the room. Claire could see two blinking red dots in the restricted area. Behind them, was a dashed line that led back to Paddock 11. "As you can see, they've been moving in a pretty straight line. Which is, well, odd."

"Why?" Claire asked.

"Well, it's like they're following something. Or moving towards a target," Lowery said, after exchanging a glance with Vivian and a couple of others. Claire assumed they'd been having this discussion before she arrived. "But there's nothing there for them to follow. They're not on a road or anything."

"Hmm," Claire moved over to stand behind Lowery, her gaze still focused on the map. Scanning the path the Indoraptors appeared to be following, she realized there was only one thing standing between them and the ocean. "The raptors," she breathed out, her face draining of colour. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone.

"What?" Lowery asked.

"If they continue on their course, they're headed straight for the raptor paddock."

"But we've evacuated everyone north of the resort," Vivian spoke up. "There won't be anyone there."

"They're not part of the regular evacuation procedure," Claire said. "They're probably still there. And," she grimaced, another thought hitting her, "even if they have, the raptors would be there. The Indoraptors haven't had any interactions with other dinosaurs. And these ones they're somewhat related to. Who knows what might happen when they meet."

She could vaguely hear gasps from around the room, but she was too focused on her phone. She opened up her chat with Owen again, quickly firing off a message. **We think they're headed to the raptor paddock.**

She was about to check her other messages, but there were already three dots indicating that Owen was replying, so she waited him out.

**Are you okay?**

**I'm fine. I'm at control. **Claire quickly sent back, before adding: **Things aren't good. Tasers aren't working. Are you somewhere safe?**

**What happened with the ACU?**

Claire winced, although not entirely surprised he would somehow know. **Not good. Second team is being assembled. **She debated, and then sent a final message: **Be careful.**

Flipping chats, she checked in on her sister, only to find a series of increasingly frantic messages:  
**Claire, what's going on?  
****Why am I hearing about evacuations?  
****Is everything okay?  
****Where are you?  
****I can't get a hold of the boys.  
****Claire?  
What am I supposed to do? **

Claire quickly sent her sister a response. **Go back to the hotel. I'll find the boys. Nothing to panic about.** She crossed her fingers as she sent it, really hoping she was telling the truth.

**What's going on? Where are you?** Karen wrote back immediately.

**I'm at control. We've just got a little**, Claire winced as she typed, **incident. Will update you when I find the boys.**

Putting her phone away, ignoring the vibrations of incoming messages, Claire turned her focus back to the screen in front of her. The Indoraptor dots had moved closer to the raptor paddock.

"Vivian, is the evacuation complete?" Claire asked.

"The final monorail is on its way in," Vivian confirmed.

"Can you track down my nephews?" Claire asked. "They were supposed to be at the gyrospheres."

"They're all accounted– No, wait, one's still out in the valley," Vivian said, pulling up the tracking data on her monitor. "That's odd. It's not moving."

"Who's in it?" Claire asked. The wristbands that all the guests wore at the park contained RFID chips. They had recently started scanning the bands at all rides, allowing them to keep track of guest usage of the various attractions. Doing so had also, conveniently, helped with reuniting missing kids with their parents. She waited as Vivian clicked around before she watched as the two names she somehow had already known to expect, popped up on the screen. Zach and Gray. "Okay, we need to send someone out to get them," Claire said, her stomach clenching. She was already dialing Zach's phone, but she wasn't expecting a response. There's no way the boys would be ignoring their phone if they were stuck. They must be in one of the (many) dead spots on the island.

"I can put in a request," Vivian told her, "But ACU is really backed up right now."

"And they're down about 15 guys," Lowery butted in.

"This is an emergency," Claire said. "We have guests stranded in the middle of our evacuation zone."

"I don't know what to tell you," Lowery shrugged. "ACU's priority is the Indoraptors."

"What's the next response," Claire asked.

"They're sorting that out right now," Vivian updated her after listening to her headset. "They want to know if they're approved to move to lethals."

"Yes," Claire nodded, her response decisive. Too many people had died already. Clearly non-lethals weren't working.

"Now hold on a second," Masrani interrupted, coming to stand beside her. "We've got too much money invested in those assets to just kill them."

"And we've just lost an entire ACU team," Claire told him.

"I'm not ready to make the switch," Masrani said. "We'll go in bigger, stronger, but _non-lethal_."

Claire opened her mouth to protest, but Masrani's glare kept her silent. Vivian and Lowery were looking at her, waiting for confirmation of Masrani's order, but she didn't want to give it. No, not when she'd been expecting something like this (well, not _this_, but something bad) for too long. When she didn't respond, Vivian looked at Masrani again.

"Non-lethals," he repeated, before he moved away, and Vivian repeated his request into her mic, her gaze now locked on Claire's.

Looking away, Claire looked back up at the monitor. Focusing on the map, her eyes were drawn to the Gyrosphere Valley and she suddenly remembered her nephews. If ACU was going in non-lethal, she knew they wouldn't be able to spare anyone. And she knew their priority _should_ be the Indoraptors. Dammit.

She scanned the room, looking over at Masrani and then back to the screen, the dots having moved even closer to the raptor paddock. She wanted to stay there. She _needed_ to stay there. It was her job to be there.

But Zach and Gray were family. And she'd never forgive herself if something happened to them. She pushed away from the desk. "I've gotta go. I've got my phone. Keep me posted," she told Vivian and Lowery, before she strode out of the room.

* * *

_When I saw JP way back when it came out, it scared me, but I fell in love with the movie. I'm a science nerd and Lex and her computer skills are one of the catalysts for my current line of work. However, what drew me to JP was Michael Crichton's storytelling. The way he weaves science, morality, ethics, hubris, greed, and so much more into such a rich story where you see humans for the fallible beings that they are — even those you cheer for — and also makes you really think. With JW, I thought the franchise was going to go back there. And, in a way, it sort of did. Claire is definitely not a perfect character, but you still want her to succeed. With FK, the final trailer made me think it was going to go full Crichton. While I have numerous issues with the story in FK, it's the ending that's really bothered me most. I've been trying not to think too much about JW3, because I've been pretty sure I'll be disappointed. Battle at Big Rock has essentially confirmed for me that this franchise has left its origins behind. For me, the suspension of disbelief was always around whether or not they could actually bring dinosaurs back. Now, however, it's asking for a whole lot more that I'm not willing to give.  
_

_Anyway, long story short, at this point in time, I feel like I'm floundering in the fandom. IC is written. So is another snapshot (and parts of two others). And I've got half an outline for an IC sequel. The franchise doesn't owe me anything — it doesn't owe any of us anything — but it feels like it's jumped the shark and lost its way. So, I'm re-evaluating where I stand and what I'll continue to do. Writing has been a life saviour (literally) for me over the last year. But..._

_However, **don't panic** — everything I've written will get posted. And I'm not abandoning Elise, and will continue to finish **The Missing Years** with her. At the moment, I'm taking a bit of a break from writing and using that time to get back to another passion of mine. Hopefully I can recharge and reset and continue forward._


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter 25**

Circling the perimeter of the raptor paddock, Owen felt like he was back in the Navy. He recalled the shifts early in his military career where he was essentially "on guard." He'd always found them boring as hell but had learned quickly not to complain. He supposed that this was slightly _less_ boring, in that there was something actually happening (although, not where he was, not yet). Instead, he was trying to turn his brain off, trying not to imagine all the worst-case scenarios, and instead stay focused only on the present.

"Do you hear that?" Barry grabbed Owen's attention as he passed by.

The two of them turned their gazes away from the paddock, Owen straining to catch what Barry had. It took him a moment to identify the new sound as he had been staring out at the jungle, expecting to hear branches breaking and/or leaves rustling. Instead, it was the sound of a vehicle bouncing along the dirt roads. Owen turned his gaze to the road leading to the paddock just in time to watch as a vehicle appeared.

"Who'd be driving around now?" Owen asked, watching as the vehicle stopped and the engine turned off. A moment later he let out a groan as they saw Hoskins emerge. "Oh god, what's _he_ doing here?"

"Doesn't he know there's a Code 19? And that they're bringing everyone in?" Barry replied.

"Probably assumes it doesn't apply to him," Owen said, as the two watched Hoskins greet one of the ACU men before climbing the stairs to the catwalk. Owen walked towards Hoskins, deciding it would be better to get this over with sooner rather than later. "What are you doing here, Hoskins? This area is supposed to be off-limits right now."

"The Code 19?" Hoskins just dismissed it, brushing the whole thing aside with a wave of his hand. "ACU will deal with that. I'm here to talk about moving the raptors."

"Now?" Barry asked with a raised eyebrow.

"We're a little busy," Owen told Hoskins. "We'll have to do this later."

"Busy?" Hoskins looked around at the mostly empty paddock, as the employees were still safely secured inside the office building. "Doesn't look busy to me."

"You're not that stupid," Owen said with an eye roll. "We can't have people running around with the Indoraptors lose."

"Like you'll even see them," Hoskins said. "I need to get some information from you so I can sort out–"

"Okay, maybe you _are_ that stupid," Owen interrupted. "They've been tracking the Indoraptors, and their current path will bring them right through here. We're expecting them to show up any minute now."

"The ACU team is out. I heard them talking about an ambush. The Indoraptors will never make it here." Hoskins attempted to dismiss Owen's comments, giving his own eye roll.

"You're not up-to-date. It didn't go well," Owen said, just as some noise over to his right caught his attention. "Did you hear that?" He directed his question at Barry and he noticed that the ACU members spread across the paddock yard were also looking in the same direction.

Owen realized too late that they'd made a mistake. That he should've been expecting the Indoraptors to be smarter, to be more like his girls.

The attack came suddenly from behind, the Indoraptor — he was not sure which one, never having bothered to learn how to tell them apart — killing one of the ACU before any of them even realized what had happened. A second guard was down seconds later, as the distraction of the first caused them all to turn their backs on the other animal. Owen lifted up his rifle, trying to figure out where to aim, which one to try for first. He was struggling to focus as he could hear the raptors growling and snarling from in the paddock below him, the ACU yelling and trying to shoot, and the Indoraptors roaring.

Owen decided to "screw protocol," he was going to aim to kill. Claire could yell at him later. He quickly fired off a round. He took a moment to appreciate that he and Barry were positioned above, looking down on the scene and the advantage it was giving them, but he also realized the drawback. They were further away from the Indoraptors and the Indoraptors were swift, so his bullet went wide. While the tasers from the ACU were landing, they were seemingly having no effect. For the briefest moment, Owen wondered if the custom gun was needed because of this, but he didn't have time to dwell, instead aiming and shooting again.

Mere moments after the chaos started, it abruptly stopped, the Indoraptors freezing, their heads cocked to the side in a movement that felt eerily familiar to Owen, having witnessed his raptors doing it many times before. The sudden silence heightened his senses, and he felt like he could hear even the tiniest movements now. Leaves rustling in the wind, the moans from one of the ACU who was lying injured, the tapping of raptor talons on the ground, Barry breathing heavily, the sound of a boot against a metal step, the cocking of a gun, his own heartbeat, the creak of a gate opening...

It was the last sound that caused Owen to shift, the world swiftly coming back into focus. The Indoraptors were on the move again, this time ignoring the remaining three ACU members and stalking towards the holding pen. A quick glance behind him, down into the paddock, and Owen was unsurprised to see the four raptors gathered close to the gate, staring out of it. Charlie let out a questioning chirp at the new dinosaurs, before looking over at her sisters.

Owen forgot the sound that had caught his attention, instead too interested in watching what was playing out below. The Indoraptors had stopped by the outside of the holding pen, before letting out their own chitters which were followed immediately by replies from the raptors.

"They're communicating," Barry said, letting out a shaky breath, and Owen just nodded mutely. He wasn't sure why he was surprised, the Indoraptors _were_ based on the raptors.

The raptors were chittering excitedly now, between each other and also looking through the gate. The Indoraptors, however, seemed less interested in communicating the longer it went on. Owen noticed that one appeared to be distracted by something in the holding pen, and he wondered if any of the ACU members had managed to get themselves inside to safety.

He didn't have to wait long, as one Indoraptor suddenly lunged at the pen, claws clutching at the side, teeth snapping. The raptors got louder. Owen was about to ask Barry if he knew what was happening when he realized that they were the only two on the catwalk. "Tell me he didn't…" Owen muttered, moving across the catwalk now, hoping to find a better vantage point. His movements distracted the second Indoraptor, who looked up at him and Barry and Owen froze. He knew these hybrid dinosaurs were not like the T. rex. That the Indoraptors could see things whether they were moving or not, but it was instinct for Owen to try to make himself a less noticeable prey.

For a moment, the Indoraptor looked like she was going to come after him, but then there was a loud beep from a button and the squeal of a semi-rusted gear turning. Owen knew those sounds. He'd heard them before. He looked back down into the paddock, forgetting about the Indoraptors for a second, to see the inner gate rising. What did Hoskins think he was doing?

o-o-o

By the time Claire reached her car, she was already second-guessing her decision to leave. She should be in the control room. Her _job_ was to be in the control room. It was what she knew how to do best. Not how to track down two wayward teenagers who apparently had managed to get themselves stuck in a gyrosphere.

She called Zach's phone again, grumbling as after a few rings it flipped over to voicemail. It wouldn't do to leave a message — on the off chance he saw that she'd phoned before she could reach them, she knew he wouldn't check his messages anyway. She did, however, send him another text.

Claire was about to step into her car when her heels caught her attention. She'd been out to the Gyrosphere Valley countless times before, and heels were a no-go. She took a moment to evaluate what she was wearing, relieved to realize that it was all loose fitting and easy to move in if, unfortunately, a little too white for a trip into the field. Her heels however… well, she knew she could do something about those. Closing her car door, she circled around to the back, popping up the hatch and digging around for her gym bag. Balancing carefully, she quickly swapped out the heels for socks and sneakers, before slamming the hatch closed.

Grumbling, she turned on her car and pulled out her phone again, bringing up the tracking information. The gyrosphere was still showing up in the same position. Claire really hoped she wasn't going to get all the way out there only to find out that the tracker had stalled and the boys were safely back at the resort and their wristbands had just failed to register.

They _were_ teenage boys after all. She wouldn't put it past them to ignore their mom's (and hers) texts, too busy having fun and thinking it was all an adventure. It's not like they were little, not like last time, when she would have been worried that Gray would be scared. No, she was sure they were just fine, maybe — probably — a little pissed, if they _were_ stuck in the gyrosphere.

As Claire drove out of the resort area and onto the back roads that were only ever travelled by employees, the quietness around her made her reach out and lock her doors. She'd never before felt scared driving all over the island. And she covered most of it daily, on her own, just like she was now. But this time it felt different. Spooky, sort of. Like everyone and everything knew that something was going on.

Maybe she should've insisted harder that someone from the ACU went out to find them. She was their boss, they were supposed to listen to her. And then she could be back at Control, watching and monitoring and _controlling_ what was happening. Instead of in her car, alone, driving down the empty back roads.

Except, no. She didn't _need_ anyone else to do this. She could do this herself. And she knew the ACU was already stretched, what with their reduced numbers, trying to maintain order with everyone crammed into the resort and Main Street area, tempers running high, all while _also_ needing to figure out a new response to the Indoraptors.

It was fine. She could do this herself. Masrani was at Control. It's not like she'd left it unmanned. And she had her phone.

It would be fine.

She hoped.

o-o-o

"Are you trying to get yourself killed?" Owen found himself shouting before he could think to remain silent. "SHUT THE GATE!"

There was no response, but he could feel Barry at his side, looking down as well, the gate steadily rising. The raptors were now pacing around in front of it, as much as they could while all squished together, clawing at the ground. Owen knew they'd be under it the moment it was high enough.

He was in so much shock that it was only the sound of a different sort of snarl that made him spin around, having forgotten about the Indoraptors. They were both, thankfully, still on the ground, looking at the gate. Owen moved farther along the paddock wall until he was overlooking the pen. He could now see Hoskins, racing across the pen, over to the second gate. The gate that was supposed to remain locked if the inner one was open. The gate that would now be the only thing separating the raptors from the rest of Nublar. The gate that Hoskins was now opening. What the fuck was he doing?

Owen was just about to shout again, to ask that question, when he saw Hoskins scrambling back into the corner farthest from both gates, trying to climb up the wall of the pen. Hoskins was tall, and he had a long reach, easily gripping the bars despite the distance separating the horizontal beams. However, he was not in great shape, and Owen watched as Hoskins struggled to pull his weight up, to get his feet high enough to reach the next bar.

A snarl drew Owen's attention back to the Indoraptors, and he wondered what they had made of the opened gate. He expected them to be at it, but they were both just waiting, watching, crouched on all fours, staring into the pen. They hadn't appeared to have even made a move towards the new opening.

A screech from the raptors, and he looked back to find that Charlie, the smallest of the four, had made it into the holding pen. She spun in a circle, before looking back at her sisters, who were pushing their way under the gate.

A quick look at Hoskins, and Owen realized that he had only made it a few feet off the ground. Definitely _not_ out of reach of the raptors. Blue, once she was in, took the lead, heading straight for the opening, not even sparing a glance in Hoskins's direction. Charlie and Echo were right behind her, with Delta bringing up the rear.

Owen watched, uneasy, as Delta looked over at Hoskins and then back at her sisters. He knew what was about to happen before it did, but he couldn't bring himself to look away. Delta broke away from her sisters, lunging at Hoskins, her jaws clamping hold of his right leg just above the ankle. She yanked her head back, and Owen cringed at Hoskins's terrified and pained screams, as he continued to hang onto the bars, kicking back with his other leg, trying to dislodge Delta. She tugged again, and his screams grew louder.

The cocking of a gun grabbed Owen's attention and he looked over to see that Barry was aiming his rifle down at Delta.

"No," Owen shouted, pushing the barrel of the gun down.

"She's going to kill him," Barry protested.

"We don't have non-lethals," Owen reminded him. "You'll kill her."

Their arguing was moot, when a moment later Blue let out a commanding bark and Delta let go, racing out of the pen to join her sisters who were facing off against the Indoraptors.

Owen knew that the Indoraptors were large. And he knew that they were much bigger than his raptors, but he hadn't realized just by how much until now. Even though there were four raptors, they were clearly no match for the two Indoraptors, and Owen was now worried he was about to see all four of his raptors die. He looked around, wondering what had happened to the ACU. There had been five, and while he was aware that the Indoraptors had killed two, and that another was injured (he was not sure if that one was still alive), he didn't know what had happened to the other two. He hoped they were somewhere safe.

Blue let out some chirps directed at the Indoraptors and, for a minute, Owen and Barry watched while the six dinosaurs appeared to have a second round of conversation. At one point, Blue looked up at them, and Owen just knew that they were talking about them. For all the time he'd spent with the raptors, for all the communicating he'd watched them do, Owen was unable to interpret much about their actual dialogue, relying mostly on their body language to understand them.

The sound of metal clanging drew his attention back down into the holding pen, and he discovered that Hoskins had dragged himself over to the gate and was pulling it shut and trapping himself in, away from the six dinosaurs who were now staring at him. Owen wasn't sure how Hoskins was even standing and he wasn't surprised when the older man immediately slumped to the ground the moment the gate fully closed.

There was a rustling from the trees and all the dinosaurs once again changed their focus. Owen was reminded of a line he'd read in one of Alan Grant's reports after the Jurassic Park incident, about how some of the dinosaurs behaved "just like a flock of birds." He understood that comment now, watching the six react almost as one.

Owen was not quite sure what he expected to happen next, but he knew that what _did _happen was not it. The four raptors squawked at each other, before Blue gave one final chitter towards the Indoraptors, and then the raptors raced off into the jungle, disappearing from sight almost instantly. The two Indoraptors watched them for a moment, before their gazes went back to the holding pen. One of them moved forward, pawing at the gate and looking in at Hoskins, but she couldn't reach him, and instead, she stretched up, her size, her powerful forearms and her opposable thumbs allowing her to grasp onto the cage and start to pull herself up as if to climb it.

The roar of a vehicle distracted the Indoraptor before she could get her feet off the ground, and she turned, along with her sister, to see what was making the noise. Owen watched as a truck barreled across the open area, heading for the road. What the hell? Who was in it? The Indoraptors barely hesitated before turning to chase after the vehicle.

Owen didn't realize he had been holding his breath until the Indoraptors disappeared from sight and he could feel the pressure in his chest ease.

"This is not good," Barry commented, and Owen just nodded.

They stood there for a couple more minutes, mainly stunned over what had just happened, until movement from below caught Owen's attention, and he saw the last ACU team member, Meyers, appear. Owen wasn't sure where she had been, but she headed straight for her injured teammate. The motion spurred him and Barry into action, and they sprinted down the stairs to Meyers's side.

"Who was in the truck?" Barry asked as they reached Meyers.

"Coulson," Meyers said without looking up. "Knew we needed a distraction."

"Is he okay?" Owen asked, crouching down beside her. The man was unconscious, and Owen could see a large gash on his arm and another on his leg, both bleeding.

"He needs medical help, now," Meyers said. "He's losing a lot of blood."

"Hoskins!" Owen exclaimed, suddenly reminded of the other man. He stood up, racing for the pen and letting himself in. Hoskins was still unconscious and bleeding heavily. Owen unbuckled Hoskins's belt, pulling it out quickly before tying it tightly on his thigh above the gashes and puncture wounds left by Delta's teeth, trying to slow the bleeding. Hoskins groaned but didn't wake up. Owen didn't have anything else on him, no bandages, no gauze. He knew there was nothing else he could do. Like the ACU man, Hoskins needed a doctor.

Pulling out his phone, Owen debated who to dial, before selecting Claire. He was surprised when she picked up after only one ring, expecting her to be too busy to answer.

"They're out," Owen told her, not wasting time on a greeting.

"_Who's out?_"

"The raptors," Owen said. "And the Indoraptors too, but that you already knew that."

"_What the fuck? Owen, what did you do?_"

"_I_ didn't do anything," Owen protested, indignant. "Hoskins–"

"_Where are they? Are you safe?_" Claire cut him off. "_Have you reported this to Control?_"

"That's why I'm calling you," Owen said. "I'm reporting it _to you_. And I don't _know_ where they are. The raptors ran off into the jungle. The Indoraptors took off after a truck. But you can track them all, right? Find out where they're going?"

"_Right, yes, of course,_" Claire replied, and Owen furrowed his brow, a little confused by her reaction. He had expected her to start barking orders at others, getting them to pull it up on the screens around her. However, he didn't have time to think about that now.

"We've got two badly injured here," Owen continued. "They need immediate medical help. Can you send a medevac our way?"

"_We can't send out med teams right now,_" Claire said. "_We're too short on ACU. We can't protect them. You'll have to bring them in._"

"Fuck," Owen swore, standing up and looking back out at Barry and Meyers who were still tending to the other man. He ran his hand through his hair, frustrated. "We've got a whole crew here that needs to be evacuated, too. Fuck."

"_If they're safe for now, the best thing for them to do is to stay there,_" Claire's measured response was actually a bit reassuring, even if Owen knew the concept of "safe" right now was debatable. "_Can you drive the injured guys in?_"

"I… yeah," Owen said. "Can you have a med team meet us at the gate?"

"_Yeah, sure,_" Claire agreed. "_Get them there. I–_" She cut herself off and Owen waited, wondering what she was about to say.

When she didn't say anything after a couple of moments, Owen spoke up again. "Barry and I better get moving. Claire… the Indoraptors didn't even flinch at the tasers. I hope the next ACU team knows that. And they're smart. They planned their attack."

"_I know,_" Claire nodded. "_We're… working on it. ACU is suiting up as we speak._"

"They're too fast, too smart," Owen repeated. "It's time to bring in the big guns."

"_I–_"

"You've got an M134 in the armoury, tell them it's time to take it out."

"_I'll pass it along_," Claire said, but her resigned tone made Owen even more worried.

"And you need to talk to James. Find out what he knows. Find out if he has any tricks to calm them down, any commands that you can use." Owen tried to stay focused on what they could do.

"_James is–Look, I gotta go Owen. Get those guys to the gate. I'll have a med team waiting. And,_" there's only a slight pause this time, before Claire finished, "_please, be safe._"

Before Owen could even respond, he heard a click and realized that Claire had hung up. He debated for barely half a second on phoning her back, but he knew that he had more important things he needed to worry about. He hurried back out to Barry and Meyers.

"Claire said they can't send a medevac, but that she'll have a med team waiting for us at the gate. Let's load them into a truck."

"What about everyone else?" Meyers asked. "Are we supposed to evacuate everyone now?"

"No," Owen shook his head. "We can't risk taking them out. They're safer where they are for now. I don't know when reinforcements will be able to make it out here, but Meyers, I need you to stay here. And find yourself a different gun. Screw non-lethals."

o-o-o

After hanging up with Owen, Claire immediately dialled Lowery. She was grateful for the distraction, her one hand gripping the steering wheel tightly as she bounced along the dirt road.

"Lowery? The raptors are out," Claire told him, barely letting him answer her greeting. She interrupted his shocked rambling with: "Owen just told me. The Indoraptors were at the raptor paddock but they've all left. All _six_ of them. You need to be tracking them all. They didn't leave together."

She was still waiting for Lowery to reply with updated information on the dinosaurs locations when she realized she was about to pass a side road. On impulse, she swung her wheel to the right and veered from her current plan. Owen's final words about James were echoing through her head. While she couldn't ask _James_ (him being dead and all), she could swing by Paddock 11 and see if there was anything there that was useful. She hadn't even thought about doing that earlier. It wasn't on her way to the Gyrosphere Valley and her nephews, but, dammit, there were currently six carnivorous dinosaurs running rampant, two who were seemingly impossible to stop. Owen was right. They needed more information.

"_Okay, the raptors appear to be in the jungle wandering towards the Lazy River, while the Indoraptors are a bit farther south, but more central,_" Lowery informed her. "_Where are you?_"

"I'm fine," Claire brushed him aside. "Nowhere near that area. I need you to do two things for me. First, get a med team out to the north gate. There are some injured personnel being brought there. Second, I need you get me Masrani."

"_What?_"

"Lowery, get me Masrani," Claire demanded again. "And get that med team out there."

For a second the sound was muffled and then she heard Masrani pick up. "_Claire, where are you?_"

"Mr. Masrani, it's time. We need to initiate Phase Two."

"_Claire, you know I can't do that._"

"No, _you_ don't understand," Claire told him, barely holding back her anger. "The raptors are loose. It's no longer just the Indoraptors. We need to get people off the island while we still can. If we're going to survive this–"

"_If we're going to survive this, we can't have a mass evacuation_," Masrani interrupted her. "_They'll think we can't handle this._"

"If we're going to survive this, we can't have dead guests on our hands," Claire shot back. "We've got six carnivores free on the island. We don't know what they'll do."

"_We're tracking them,_" Masrani reminded her. "_We've got another ACU team about to head out._"

"They better be packing lethals this time," Claire said. "The non-lethals aren't doing anything. We've lost too many people already."

"_I've given the approval for that,_" Masrani confirmed. "_So we need to give them a chance to handle it before we take the next step._"

"What about the M134?" Claire repeated the name of the weapon Owen had mentioned, although she wasn't really sure what it was. "Are they taking that?"

"_It needs to be mounted on the helicopter. It's being prepared, just in case,_" Masrani said. "_We've got things under control._"

"If we had things under control, we wouldn't be in the middle of this," Claire replied.

"_You said the raptors are loose. Where's Owen Grady? Does he know? He's trained them, we can use him,_" Masrani continued and Claire wasn't sure if he hadn't heard her last line or was just ignoring it.

"He's the one who told me they're out," Claire said, feeling frustrated, but trying hard to not let it show. "They've got injured men at the raptor paddock. He's bringing them in. He said the Indoraptors were strategizing. That they're planning their attacks."

"_Really?_"

Claire could barely manage to hide her snort of disgust at Masrani's response, which was more curious and interested than appalled. Pulling into Paddock 11, she parked her car. "It's not a good thing," Claire reminded him. "The ACU team needs to know this. They need to be prepared. And we need a second one to go after the raptors now, too."

"_I'll get on it_," Masrani said. "_Don't worry, Claire. It's all going to be fine_."

Claire hung up the phone as she got out of her car, wishing she could let out a primal scream of rage but not wanting to attract any attention to herself. Just because the Indoraptors and raptors apparently weren't close by didn't mean that she was alone out there. The thought made her shudder, and she quickly raced up the steps and into the viewing room, shutting the door firmly behind her. She headed straight for the door that was over by the security desk on the side of the room, making her way down the short hallway.

Stopping at one of the doors lining the hall, Claire opened it and entered James's small office space. The room was cluttered, the desk a mess, and she started flipping through the piles of junk. Claire quickly realized that she had no idea what she was looking for. She wasn't sure how she was supposed to decipher James's notes. And that even if she could, she didn't know how she was supposed to know which were useful. After all the time she'd seen Owen train the raptors, she still had no idea how to do any of it herself. And even if she repeated what she had seen Owen do, she didn't think that the raptors would follow her commands. She knew it wasn't just the commands that they followed, but the person, too. And just like she was not Owen, she was also not James.

Standing up, she looked slowly around the room, wondering what she could do instead. She let her gaze drift, hoping something was going to jump out at her. When it did, it was a schematic of a rifle that was pinned up on one of the walls. Claire stared at it for a long moment. She didn't like guns. It wasn't that she had anything against them, exactly, more that she just didn't like the idea of killing anything, and that had always been her association. But now, as she stared at the schematic, she remembered James's demonstration from just over an hour ago — that thought briefly distracted her, as it felt like it has been at least a week since the Indoraptors had broken free, not merely an hour.

Leaving the office, Claire continued down the short hallway before pausing at the door at the end. She hesitantly pushed it open. Stepping out onto the catwalk, she took a couple of careful steps forward. Even though she _knew _the Indoraptors weren't there, she couldn't help but feel like they were just lying in wait, ready to pounce.

Walking along the catwalk, she had to skirt around the branches from the tree that was still resting against it. She felt a sudden rage at the tree, for letting the Indoraptors loose, before she took a steadying breath, feeling a bit stupid for being mad at an inanimate object. And then she forgot about it completely, as she could see where James had been standing. There was a shoe, a foot still in it, and the bone and blood she could see had her turning, leaning over the railing, her stomach heaving. It took her a couple of moments to get it together, before she could stand up and turn back. She tried to ignore the shoe, focusing instead on the gun that had somehow remained propped against the wall where James had left it. Grabbing it, Claire quickly turned back, racing along the catwalk now, no longer wanting to be out there, to be feeling so exposed.

Exiting the viewing area, Claire got back into her car, resting the gun on the passenger seat. She took a moment to stare at it, not really sure how it was going to help or what to do with it. Her phone beeped, and she reached for it, seeing a new text message from Karen, asking for an update on the boys.

Right. She needed to get to the Gyrosphere Valley. Boys first.

After all, the ACU team was now headed out with lethals. What could this gun do that they couldn't?

o-o-o

Driving away from the north gate, Owen looked over at Barry. "We're doing the right thing, right?"

"We're being a little stupid," Barry said, after a brief pause. "But yeah, it's the right thing."

The truck they were driving felt too large, now that they had handed off the two injured men, and Owen wasn't quite sure what their plan should be. He just knew that staying there, in the resort area, while his raptors were loose, didn't feel okay.

"Where are they now?" he asked Barry, who had his phone out and was tracking both the raptors and the Indoraptors.

"The raptors seem to be continuing their trek west. I can't tell if they're following a specific plan, it seems a bit more haphazard. Probably just being led by whatever interests them as they explore."

"And the Indoraptors?"

"They're near the aviary."

"Let's hope they don't manage to let _those_ loose," Owen said and Barry nodded in agreement. Pressing harder on the accelerator, Owen sped up the truck, hurtling them down the path, and the two fell silent.

A few minutes later Owen's phone ringing startled them both, and they chuckled nervously at each other, both uncomfortable with the realization of just how on edge they were. Owen pulled his phone out of his pocket, briefly checking the screen. Claire's name and picture were staring back at him, and he answered immediately.

"What's going on?"

"_Just wanted to update you,_" Claire told him. "_I've got confirmation that there are two ACU teams on their way out. Both are armed with lethals. And the M134 is being mounted on the helicopter in case it's needed._"

"In case?" Owen scoffed, before demanding, "Claire, they need to get that fucking thing into the air NOW."

"_I'm trying,_" Claire said softly, and Owen bit back what he was about to say. He knew it wasn't her fault. That she'd be pushing. That she, like him, had been expecting something to happen all along, just probably not quite this bad. "_I just wanted you to know. I– Where are you Owen? Please tell me you're in the resort area now._"

"You know I can't do that, that I _couldn't_ do that, not with my girls out," Owen replied, his voice equally soft. From his periphery, he could see that Barry had turned and was looking out his side window, trying to give Owen some privacy. Owen dropped his voice some more, "I've gotta go after them. We're the only hope they have of surviving this."

"_You're the one who asked for lethals. Demanded it, really,_" Claire reminded him.

"Yeah, and I stand by that. For the Indoraptors. But my raptors… I gotta see if we can't bring them back. I gotta try."

There was a long pause, and Owen held his breath, waiting for her response. Not that she was going to be able to sway him from his plan. "_Okay_," Claire finally said. "_Just please be careful. We've already lost too many today._"

"I'm always careful," Owen replied, and the snort from Barry reminded him he wasn't alone, and that Barry couldn't really tune him out. "Everything's going to be okay. I promise."

"_You can't promise that,_" Claire said. "_I wish you could, but… it's too late. Things are already not okay._"

"They're not going to get worse, I won't let it happen," Owen said. "Barry and I are closing in on the raptors. You'll see. Everything will be wrapped up soon and then we'll all be stuck in a worst hell: neverending meetings."

Claire let out a bit of a laugh at that, and Owen could feel himself relaxing marginally. "_Okay, I gotta go._"

"Yeah, me too," Owen said. "Let me know if anything changes." He waited until he got confirmation, before hanging up. Tucking his phone back away, he turned to Barry and asked for a location update. Upon Barry's reply, Owen groaned, "I wish I had my motorcycle. We need to be able to get off these roads."

"Maybe we can grab ATVs at Bunker 8?" Barry suggested. "It's only a slight detour, and if we're hoping to take the raptors alive, then unlike everyone else, _we_ need some non-lethals."

"Right," Owen agreed. "Good idea. Tell me how to get there."

* * *

_Only three more chapters! _😢

_So, one of the (admittedly nerdy) things I enjoy working on fanfic, is all the language differences I come across. Elise is American, I'm Canadian, and Nadin is a Canadian who has been educated in the UK and lives in Australia. So while we all grew up speaking English, we've all got our own idiosyncrasies based on _where_ we have lived. Case in point, in this chapter, I originally called them _quads_ and not _ATVs_. So... question, anyone else every heard of them called quads?_


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter 26**

Racing across the field, Owen could feel the two rifles slung across his back bouncing against him with every bump he hit. He didn't care, instead gunning the ATV to move faster. While the ATVs were definitely an improvement over the truck, they weren't as nimble as his motorcycle, but that was parked back at the raptor paddock and too far out of their way.

As they crested the top of a hill, looking down over the Gyrosphere Valley, Owen slammed on his brakes while Barry skidded to a stop beside him. There was a smaller hill in front of them, before the area gave way fully to the valley, and perched on that lower hill they could see a gathering of ACU trucks and personnel. "Dammit," Owen said, reaching into his vest pocket for his binoculars. He'd been hoping they would have a chance to deal with the raptors on their own. Maybe stopping for the ATVs hadn't been the best idea.

Using the binoculars, he focused on the ACU team, trying to understand what they were up to. A couple of them were staring down into the valley pointing at something that Owen couldn't see. He shifted to scanning over the whole valley. He could see what looked to be a dead (or, at least, dying) Apatosaurus below and to the right of the ACU. There was a Triceratops lying on her side who looked to be struggling, her side covered in bite marks and her legs moving weakly. He continued to scan over the area, wondering where the rest of the dinosaurs were, finally seeing that most of them had clearly been trying to flee, and were at the far reaches of the valley, near the edge where Owen knew there were steep cliffs before it fell away into the ocean below.

"Where are the girls?" Barry asked and Owen looked over to see he was also scanning the area with binoculars. "The tracker puts them straight ahead…"

"I think the ACU are blocking our view," Owen replied, having been unable to locate them as well. He looked back down at the ACU to see two had turned and were now looking in their direction, waving for them to come join. "Well, we're being invited to the party. I guess Claire gave them a head's up."

Their sense of urgency had faded somewhat, and Owen and Barry drove slightly more calmly down to the ACU, before jumping off their ATVs and joining the gathering group.

"What do we know?" Owen asked, although his focus was on the valley as he continued to try to locate his raptors.

"We've got an unexpected hurdle," a man replied. Owen recognized him as Mark Austin, and from Austin's stance, and the way everyone had turned their attention to him, Owen quickly gathered that Austin was now leading the response.

"What? Did the raptors kill something?" Owen questioned, finally catching sight of them in the distance, where they appeared to be gathered around something. "That should make this easier, not harder."

"They haven't exactly killed something…" Austin said, stepping a bit to the side so Owen had a clearer view into the valley. "There's a gyrosphere down there."

With dread, Owen pulled out his binoculars again. Lost guests? He could just imagine the panic that must be racing through Claire right now with that knowledge. At least the gyrospheres were strong, designed to withstand bullets. Surely they could withstand the raptors. Scanning his binoculars over the area, Owen first examined his raptors, relieved to see that all four appeared to be in good shape, before shifting his gaze to the gyrosphere. "Fuck."

"Are those who I think they are?" Barry asked and Owen just nodded. "_Merde_!"

"You know them?" Austin was clearly surprised.

"Those are Claire's nephews," Owen said. "Does she know they're out here?"

"Claire Dearing?" Austin confirmed and Barry and Owen nodded. "Fuck. And no, I don't think so. Should we tell Control?"

"There's nothing they can do," Owen said. "Let's deal with the raptors and update them when we have good news."

"We've been trying to change our strategy," Austin told them, "now that there are innocents. We can't just go in guns blazing."

"The raptors haven't killed anyone," Owen reminded him. "We were hoping to get here before you and see if we couldn't get them to calm down. We picked up tranq guns just for that purpose."

"We were told to switch to lethal," Austin said.

"Right, and with good reason for the Indoraptors," Owen agreed. "The tranqs and tasers were doing nothing. But my raptors aren't like those. We just need to be able to get the shots off. It'll take a minute, but a single tranq to each and we can take them down."

Austin started to respond, but the roar of an approaching helicopter drowned him out, and they all turned, looking skyward.

"I thought the helicopter was going after the Indoraptors?" another ACU team member shouted, trying to be heard over the noise

"They are…" Austin confirmed. It took a moment before the realization struck everyone, and as one, they all turned to look back down into the valley.

Even though he knew what he was going to find, Owen had been holding out hope. But, in the brief moments the helicopter had claimed their attention, the scene below them had shifted. Now, the raptors were gathered on one side of the gyrosphere, while the two Indoraptors faced off from the other side.

"Shit."

o-o-o

Glancing down at her phone, Claire was relieved to see that she was nearing the blinking dot representing the boys' location. She knew she wasn't going to be able to drive all the way there, not in her car that was definitely not designed for off-roading.

Slowing down, she debated where to park. She didn't appear to be all that far off now, maybe a few hundred meters. She could approach on foot. There was a dense grouping of trees separating the road from the valley, but Claire found herself straining to look through it, trying to pick out a glimpse of the gyrosphere, or even just sunlight reflecting off of it.

Pulling slightly off the side of the road, she turned off the car. Claire reached for her phone to try Zach _again_, only to find out that now _she_ had no bars. Well, that did seem to confirm that the boys were likely in a dead zone. Claire made a mental note that their deal with Verizon should really include upgrades and better cell coverage on the island, only to then let out an almost hysterical chuckle at the thought. With the Indoraptors loose and with lethal weapons approved, that deal was dead and good luck to anyone ever getting Verizon to want to sponsor another dinosaur in the future.

She was just getting out of her car when she heard the helicopter, and looked up to see it flying low across the sky, just to the east of her. She couldn't quite tell how far away it was, but its presence reminded Claire that while she'd been busy tracking the boys, and while she had checked in occasionally with Lowery for updates on the Indoraptors and raptors, she didn't actually know where they were now. With no cell reception, however, she could no longer call in, or, she realized, track them herself. She was just lucky that she had kept her phone open on the gyrosphere and that the gyrosphere hadn't been moving, and so the lack of a cell connection hadn't affected her knowledge of its position.

Claire stood in the doorway of her car, debating what to do. Should she get back in and try to find cell service first? Or, now that she was there, should she get the boys? She was still waffling when she caught sight of the Indoraptor rifle, resting against her passenger seat. Grabbing it, she squared her shoulders. She needed to get her nephews out of there. She'd grab them, they'd make it back to her car, and if worse came to worst, she could use the rifle to buy them a few precious seconds.

Closing her car door, she turned and headed into the trees.

o-o-o

"What do we do now?"

Owen wasn't sure who asked the question, but he knew it was the one on everyone's minds. Austin had disappeared into one of the trucks to try to get a hold of those on the helicopter, to give them the updated information about the boys and that they couldn't fire, not yet. Not until they got the dinosaurs away from the gyrosphere.

"We need to get closer," Owen said, standing beside Barry. "We're too far away to do anything from here."

"What about the Indoraptors?" Barry was staring down at the dinosaurs, who remained engaged in a standoff. Owen wasn't sure how long it would last, but he knew they needed to act fast.

"We're going to have to see if we can separate them. First away from the gyrosphere, and then away from the raptors. It's our only chance," Owen said. He looked at the phone he was clutching in his hand. After recognizing the boys, he'd pulled up the texts from Gray the other day and had tried to call the teen, but had been unsuccessful. He had almost tried Claire but held back. It wasn't worth worrying her more than she probably already was. "The longer we wait, the more likely they're going to do something. They're not going to stay still forever."

Owen turned on his heel, striding purposefully back towards his ATV. He wasn't willing to wait any longer. He just knew things were going to get worse. He could hear Barry following after him. They were intercepted as Austin left one of the trucks.

"Where are you guys going?"

"We need to distract them, to get them away from the gyrosphere," Owen explained. "We can't wait any longer. I don't trust it to hold up to six dinosaurs. And that stand off is not going to last much longer."

"Shit!" The loud exclamation was immediately followed by a string of other curse words from a variety of the crew, and Austin, Barry and Owen spun around. What it was that finally broke the dinosaurs out of their staring contest, Owen didn't know, but they were no longer stationary. They were now a confusing mass as they all attacked each other. Owen was struggling to tell his raptors apart, both because of the distance and the blur of bodies as they fought.

He was also struggling to locate the gyrosphere. But that thought had barely crossed his mind when he saw it, suddenly spinning wildly across the field. It didn't go far, before it came to a stop, only to have a raptor flung into its side, the momentum pushing it and it spun away again. When it stopped the second time, Owen expected the boys to start driving away. When it just sat there, he grabbed his binoculars, focusing on it only to find that Zach and Gray were suspended upside down.

"Dammit, we can't wait," Owen yelled, turning and running for his ATV. "We need to get them out of there now."

o-o-o

Reaching the edge of the trees, finally able to see clearly into the valley, Claire froze for a second, before ducking behind the closest tree and peeking around it. She hadn't expected to almost walk straight into a dinosaur fight, but now looking out, she realized that was what she'd almost done. The Indoraptors had their backs to her, and she watched as one of the raptors, Echo, if she wasn't mistaken, leapt onto the back of Hopper, only to be ripped off by Curie reaching up and grabbing the raptor and tossing her aside.

"Shit," Claire swore. She wasn't sure what to do now. She could just make out the gyrosphere in the midst, the boys hanging upside down, before it got bumped, and they were spun off to the side, this time stopping rightside up.

Scanning the area, Claire noticed the ACU trucks parked up on a hill. She could see people running around, some headed for a group of ATVs. Looking upwards, she saw that the helicopter was hovering just up and over from the fight. She could see someone leaning out the side, a gun aimed down, but he didn't appear to be firing. In fact, paying attention to the dinosaur fight again, she realized that while there were plenty of roars and snarls from the dinosaurs, and the whirl of the helicopter and sounds of various engines, she couldn't hear _any_ guns being used.

Looking back out at the scene, it took Claire a moment to realize that they must be aware of the gyrosphere and the presence of her nephews. She let out a quick sigh of relief, before refocusing on the boys. How was she going to get them out of there? Now that they were upright, she could just make out the two of them fighting over the controls, clearly also trying to determine a way out. Their efforts were significantly hampered. Every time they would start to move, a raptor or Indoraptor or tail or something seemed to whack against the gyrosphere, sending them spinning off in a different direction.

Moving along just inside the tree line, Claire attempted to follow the gyrosphere, trying to get the attention of the boys inside. She wanted to help, to direct them away, but she also wasn't sure what she could do. She tripped over a tree branch, almost face planting on the ground, but managed to catch herself, the gun she had slung over her shoulder falling to the ground in front of her. As she picked it up, an idea occurred to her.

She pointed the gun into the mess, not really aiming at anything specific, before holding down the trigger. Almost immediately, the Indoraptors froze, their gazes glued to the red laser dot that Claire could see bouncing over the raptors, as she was unable to hold the gun steady, her nerves causing her hands to shake. While the Indoraptors were frozen, the raptors weren't and they started getting up off the ground to fling themselves back at the Indoraptors again. She watched as Blue landed on the back of Curie, before she looked over to the gyrosphere, happy to see that while the boys had also frozen momentarily, they were now backing away.

Claire had already forgotten how long James had said it would hold their attention, but it wasn't long enough. It felt like they had just frozen when they were moving again. Curie arched her back, before whipping around in a circle, and Blue was flung off, flying through the air straight at Claire.

Claire screamed — she couldn't help it — ducking and covering her head. A curious chitter caused her to look up, and she saw that Blue had landed on her feet in front of her, and was now looking at Claire, her head tilted to the side. Claire didn't have time to react, not that she knew _how_ to react, before Blue turned, bounding back into the fight behind her.

o-o-o

"What the hell?" Owen muttered, confused by the Indoraptors' sudden change in behaviour. He had been about to start up his ATV when the Indoraptors had froze, and now Owen wasn't sure what to do, the behaviour he was witnessing felt unnatural. The raptors also appeared surprised by the behaviour change, but they recovered quickly, using the opportunity to attack the Indoraptors. A couple seconds later, Owen was relieved to see the gyrosphere start to back away.

Before he could even really comprehend what was happening, it was over, the Indoraptors springing back into action like they hadn't just randomly stopped. He watched as one of them flung Blue aside, and he tracked Blue's arc through the air, worried as she was flung into the trees. He saw her land on her feet, and was about to look away, but her behaviour stopped him, as she tilted her head. He couldn't make out what she was seeing, but a moment later she darted back out into the fray.

Owen could hear the others talking to each other, but he was too busy pulling out his binoculars again. He was trying to figure out what had caught Blue's attention, not wanting them to drive into the fight only to have something else unexpected surprise them. Scanning the treeline, he passed right by her at first, and it was only the red of her hair that made him snap his gaze back. At first he thought it was a trick of the light, but then he found her again. Claire. What the hell was she doing? And in the middle of a dinosaur fight? _Fuck fuck fuck_.

"Aim for the middle."

Owen looked over to see that a couple of the ACU guys were setting up a grenade launcher. Now that the gyrosphere had moved slightly away from the dinosaurs and didn't seem to be entangled in the fight anymore, they were ready to take action.

"No!" he shouted, diving off his ATV and over to the two men before they could release it. "Claire's there."

"Who?"

"What?"

"She's at Control," Austin said, joining the group.

"I saw her," Owen insisted. "Trust me. She's there. Those are her nephews. I don't know why we — why _I_ — didn't realize she'd be out here. Of _course_ she'd go after them."

"I don't see her," one of the other men said, scanning the battle.

"She's in the trees."

"We can't wait much longer," Austin said. "This is our chance. The gyrosphere is free. Who knows how long until they go after it again. Who knows how long the raptors are going to keep them occupied."

"Delta's down," Barry announced, joining the huddle. "I don't know if she's just injured, but she isn't getting up."

"Dammit," Owen slammed his hand against his thigh before curling it into a fist.

"We've got to take the shot," Austin insisted.

"Give me two minutes," Owen yelled, already racing back for his ATV. He didn't wait for a response but hoped they'd listen, speeding forward.

He tried to stay as far away from the dinosaurs as he could, cutting around behind the battle, between them and the gyrosphere, which had stopped with the boys staring back at the dinosaurs. He barely caught the surprised look on their faces as he raced by them, or the excited wave by Gray. Owen wanted to stop. To yell at them to go further away, but at least they were still protected in the gyrosphere. Reaching the edge of the trees, he practically threw himself off the ATV.

"Claire!" He was yelling her name as he stumbled over the tree roots. Dammit, where did she go?

o-o-o

Claire had watched as one ATV had broken away from the group, tracking it across the field. It was not until it got close that she recognized the leather vest. Owen. What was he doing? Why wasn't he staying where it was safe?

Staying hidden by the trees, Claire headed in the same direction he appeared to be going. The Indoraptors were starting to get the upper hand. She had seen one of the raptors go down and not get up. Between trying to focus on them, keep track of the gyrosphere, and not trip over every root and plant that seems to be clawing at her, it was slow progress. When she saw Owen get off his ATV, running along the trees, she almost broke out into a run herself, but movement on the field grabbed her attention.

Claire turned just in time to see Hopper clasp her jaws around one of the raptors, lifting it high and giving it a vicious shake, before she suddenly paused. Hopper's gaze appeared to be caught on something. The Indoraptor tossed the raptor aside, before lunging towards the trees and Claire realized she'd spotted Owen.

Owen saw the attack coming, and dove forward into a roll, bouncing back onto his feet, moments before Hopper landed where he had just been. Claire pulled the gun back around and grabbed the trigger, aiming it out towards the middle of the field. Hopper immediately turned away from Owen, following the target of the gun. Claire wasn't sure what to aim at, and again, before she could choose, she was out of time. Owen had used the momentary distraction to put more distance between himself and the Indoraptor, and when Hopper turned back, she couldn't find him. Charlie latching onto Hopper's tail provided a new distraction, getting the Indoraptor to return to the main battle.

Claire barely had time to lower the gun when suddenly Owen was pulling her behind a tree. "What the hell are you doing?" Owen whispered emphatically. "Are you crazy?"

"My nephews," Claire said. "I couldn't get anyone else to go after them."

"And you thought walking into a dino fight unarmed was the best way to save them?" Owen looked at her in disbelief.

Claire stood up straighter, holding up the rifle she was carrying. "I'm not unarmed."

"You're… You…" Owen stammered, before he was pulling her into a hug. The action surprised Claire, but she found herself melting against him, wrapping an arm around him. His next words had her leaning slightly back, so she could meet his eyes. "You can't do that, Claire."

"Do what?"

"Be here," Owen said. "You need to go back. You need to be somewhere safe. They can't shoot at the dinosaurs while you're here. And the Indoraptors are acting unpredictably. We need to clear everyone away. We don't know what they'll do next. At this point, we're going to have to try to take them all out."

"I'm fine," Claire said, pulling away from him and taking a step back. "Besides, I think I can help." She held up the rifle again.

"You're going to shoot them?" Owen asked, an eyebrow raised in question, his tone dripping with disbelief.

"No, well, not exactly. It's a targeting gun. You point it at something, and the Indoraptors will attack what you point at." Claire paused, thinking over what had just happened. "Although, I think it has to be something living, since it didn't work last time. Hopper turned back to you, but she should've run away."

"Wait, that was you?" Owen said. "The odd behaviour? You can make them freeze?"

"Yes. Well... sort of. It only holds them for a few seconds, and then they'll attack."

"That's perfect," Owen exclaimed. Claire was shocked when his hands came up and grabbed the sides of her head, pulling her to him for a kiss. She barely had time to register what happened before he pulled away, grabbing her hand and turning back. "I've got a plan. Maybe we can still save the raptors."

o-o-o

Owen gave himself two seconds to enjoy the feeling of Claire's arms wrapped around him as she sat behind him on the ATV before he pulled away from the forest, heading back towards the ACU. He hoped they wouldn't shoot, and after skirting around the dinosaurs, he aimed the ATV into their direct line of fire.

He could see Austin and Barry and aimed straight at them, slamming on the brakes and skidding to a stop right in front of them. "I've got a plan," he announced, as he and Claire dismounted. "But we have to act fast."

They were both nodding, ready to listen, and Owen quickly laid out his idea. He could tell from the way that Claire's gaze kept drifting back down towards the dinosaurs, and more specifically the gyrosphere, that she wasn't giving him her full attention.

It didn't take long to get everyone organized, and then Owen was back on his ATV, although this time without Claire. He knew she wasn't happy being left behind, but he couldn't allow himself to be distracted by that, not now. He needed to stay focused on the task at hand, and at least he knew she was out of harm's way.

Taking the lead, Owen was followed by Barry and another ACU member, Miller, towards the gyrosphere, while a second group headed out in the opposite direction. The goal was to separate the Indoraptors from the raptors. Owen and Barry were going to attempt to tranq the raptors, while Miller was there to give them cover if needed. The other team had the Indoraptor gun. They were going to use it to try to lure the Indoraptors far enough away that the helicopter could finally engage with the M134 and the ACU back on the hill would assist with the grenade launcher.

Owen was trying not to think of everything that could go wrong. Trying to stay positive. He stopped the ATV between the gyrosphere and the dinosaurs. The three raptors who were left fighting were definitely starting to look worn down. He could see a large scratch down Charlie's flank and she was limping heavily. Blue had blood on her jowls — Owen wasn't sure where it was from, and he hoped it was the Indoraptor's — but she seemed to still be going strong. Echo seemed to be screeching more than fighting now, looking almost completely defeated, sticking to the outskirts, and no longer directly in the fray.

The two Indoraptors, on the other hand, looked barely winded. They hadn't escaped unscathed, he could see bite and claw marks on their backs and along one's tail, but they no longer looked like they were fighting with their full strength. Instead, they appeared to be just batting away Blue and Charlie, like cats playing with mice, letting them tire themselves out first. The Indoraptors appeared confident in their assessment that they were top of the food chain, barely flicking a quick look in his direction. He was sure that the Indoraptors, after their earlier experiences, assumed that humans were unable to inflict any damage and completely unworthy of their attention.

Owen was worried for a moment that the tranqs would be too much. That they'd end up killing the raptors or sending them into cardiac arrest, their bodies unable to handle the sedative on top of the stress. He reminded himself that that was always a real possibility, but that they were out of options. This was their last chance to, hopefully, save them.

He adjusted the tranq gun, finding it awkward to position it correctly from his seat on the ATV and then watched as Barry did the same beside him. Ready, he put his finger on the trigger, waiting for the signal.

He was starting to wonder if something had happened when the Indoraptors froze. He quickly pulled the trigger, but in his haste his aim was too high, the tranq flying over Blue's head. He took a deep breath, refocusing and recentering, and aimed again. This time the tranq landed. He searched out Echo, but before he could aim, the Indoraptors let out a giant roar, breaking free of the targeting gun's hold on them. They turned in unison, focusing in on him, Barry and Miller, as Owen realized that the other guys hadn't been able to find a target to redirect the Indoraptors towards.

Throwing down his rifle, he gunned his ATV, barreling straight towards the Indoraptors. He could faintly hear Barry yelling his name, but he ignored him. He needed to distract the Indoraptors. They looked surprised to see him headed at them, and he used that to his advantage, cutting between them and racing across the open field. They turned to follow him, and he shifted gears, pulling on the throttle and increasing his speed. As he raced by the group carrying lethals, he yelled at them to shoot, although he wasn't sure they could hear him.

They seemed to get the point though, and there was a sudden increase in noise as guns started firing. He knew the men in the helicopter would be engaging next, and he could feel clouds of dirt being thrown into the air, some landing against his back and on his ATV as the M134 joined in. He didn't have time to worry about potential ricochets, and he didn't dare look back, instead focusing on driving the Indoraptors away from other potential targets. He needed to get them clear. He didn't want anyone else to die today.

There was a loud explosion behind him, and he could feel the tremors in the ground from the shockwave accompanied by a wave of heat, but he still didn't look back. He was worried, now, that he was going to run out of valley, as he was rapidly approaching one of the steep hills bordering it. Owen shifted gears again, praying the ATV could handle it as he started up the steep incline. He could hear the sound of the helicopter and feel the pounding of his heart.

He was still gunning it but he could tell that he was losing speed. Ahead of him, the jungle loomed and Owen knew he couldn't go in, not at this speed. While he was aware of the helicopter above and the risk of being caught in friendly fire, he knew he didn't have a choice.

He slammed on the brakes while torquing the wheel hard, spinning the ATV almost 180 degrees, until he was turned back in the direction of the Indoraptors. Except, now, he realized, there was only one, and it was finally lagging. Breathing heavily, Owen realized that the helicopter was no longer firing, but had continued to keep pace, the only one who'd been able to keep up with him and the Indoraptors, everyone else too far away now. The Indoraptor, no longer having to dodge bullets, was focused entirely on Owen and was gaining on him with every second.

Suddenly remembering he had the second rifle, Owen pulled it over his shoulder and raised the barrel up. He took a deep breath, and then another, letting his heart rate calm. He relaxed his gaze, and took aim. The Indoraptor continued to charge at him.

With his finger on the trigger, Owen let out another breath, before squeezing it steadily, just as the Indoraptor lunged forward.

* * *

_So, what did you think? I hope this chapter didn't disappoint. Action sequences are hard. And my instinct is always to have characters be smarter than they are in movies and things get not quite so out of hand... So no aviary release or main street panic. _

_Two chapters to go..._

_(And for Jake, the timeline for JW to FK is so tricky. JW takes place at Christmas, which is either 2014 (6 months before in theatres) or 2015 (6 months after). In this story, I decided to go with 2014 Christmas. At this point it's November 2016. In FK, the volcano became active in early 2017. So it hasn't happened yet. I don't have plans to include it (here or in the potential sequel, mostly because it doesn't work with the idea I've got in mind).  
_


	27. Chapter 27

_The beginning of the end..._ 😭

**Chapter 27**

The moment Claire knew that the raptors were down and that the Indoraptors were no longer a direct threat, she started searching for an ATV. She needed to get to her nephews. She needed to make sure they were all right. Seeing one that was currently unoccupied, she tried to stealthily make her way towards it. She'd almost reached it when another trooper beat her to it. Cursing under her breath, she was about to look for another one, when he looked over at her.

"I'm headed down to assist Barry and Miller," the trooper told her. "Want a lift?"

"Yes, please," Claire said with gratitude, quickly clamouring onto the back. When she'd got on behind Owen, not even thirty minutes ago, she hadn't hesitated to wrap her arms around him and hold on tight. This time, however, she was unsure what to do. The ATV jumping forward had her grasping for purchase, one hand grabbing the back of the troopers jacket, the other, the edge of her seat.

Thankfully, the ride across the field was quick, and as soon as the trooper had stopped the ATV, Claire scrambled off, looking for the gyrosphere. Seeing it, she ignored the hustle and bustle behind her, the calls and shouts of the men as they dealt with the subdued raptors, and instead started running towards it. The boys had clearly seen her, as the gyrosphere was already rolling towards her. As they reached each other, Claire struggled with the side panel, trying to remember how to open it.

"Here," the trooper who had driven her down appeared at her side, and he assisted her with getting it open.

The moment the side started to lift, the boys were unbuckling their seat belts, and Gray was the first one out, diving into Claire's arms.

"Aunt Claire!" Gray shouted. "Did you see that? Did you?"

"Of course she saw it, doofus," Zach said with an eye roll, climbing out and standing beside them. "She was _right there_."

"Oh my god, I'm so glad you two are all right," Claire said, reaching out and pulling Zach into the hug. "Do you have any idea how worried I've been?"

"It's not _our_ fault," Zach said. "It's not like we were trying to get stuck."

"We were already stuck before the warning," Gray added. "We didn't know what to do. Our phones didn't work."

At the mention of phones, Claire was reminded that she needed to get a hold of Karen, who was probably freaking out with how long it had been since Claire had last responded. However, they were still standing in the dead zone. "Your mom…" she groaned. "Okay, we need to–" She cut herself off, not really sure what they needed to do. Or, more accurately, what _she_ needed to do.

She knew she couldn't just leave. Not yet, anyway, there was too much to still deal with right there. She scanned over the valley and the ACU men spread across it. Some more had joined the group near her to help with the raptors, and there were a few standing near the first downed Indoraptor. In the distance, she could see more had gathered by where the second Indoraptor had finally fallen. Vaguely, she wondered where Owen was as she was unable to pick him out, but she was brought back to the present by the feeling of Gray tugging on her arm.

"Are the raptors all dead?" Gray asked when she turned her attention to him.

"What? No," Claire quickly shook her head. "They were using tranqs."

"What about that one?" Zach asked, pointing at one of the raptors, the one who had fallen first. Delta, Claire remembered hearing Barry say. "That one hasn't moved since the… whatever those things were, got it."

"I don't know," Claire admitted. Focusing on the raptors helped Claire shift her focus back to what she needed to be doing. She needed to get the vet teams out there. She needed to talk to Masrani and see where they were with the evacuation. And she needed to get her nephews out of there. All things she couldn't do while she didn't have cell phone coverage.

Looking around, she realized that there were a few unoccupied ATVs, as the men were moving about the raptors on foot. First step was to get back over to the ACU trucks and get a hold of Control.

The moment Claire got cell reception again, her phone didn't leave her ear. She fought her business instincts and put family first (it helped that her nephews were staring at her) and phoned her sister immediately, pulling the phone away from her ear as Karen shrieked through it, asking what was going on. It took a lot of "Karen!" and finally Gray calling out "Mom" before Karen finally quieted enough that Claire could actually talk and confirm that she was standing with both Zach and Gray and that they were perfectly all right. After letting Karen talk to both the boys, clearly not trusting Claire to convey accurate information (which made Claire roll her eyes and mutter under her breath "you think I'd lie to you about _this_?"), she finally convinced Karen to meet them at the control building.

She knew Karen would have an easier time fighting through the crowds, than the group of them would have getting to the hotel. But it wasn't just about that. Claire needed to get to Control and talk to Masrani, preferably face-to-face. She didn't have time to try to go to the hotel first and she wasn't about to let her nephews out of her sight.

The moment she'd finally got off the phone with Karen — and she did note that Gray's phone rang barely a split second later — she was dialing Control.

"Status?" Claire barked into the phone the second she heard Lowery pick up.

"Oh, um." There was a brief pause and she could hear the clicking of keys. "We've got all the guests generally contained in the resort area. We decided to keep running the monorail to the docks, and the ferries have continued to leave on schedule."

"Wait, are more people _arriving_?" Claire asked, shocked. She distinctly remembered telling Masrani to initiate Phase Two.

"No," Lowery quickly replied. "Masrani decided that we'd run a voluntary evacuation. Although we're not calling it that. More we're just continuing to run the ferries as normal _leaving_ the island. They're not bringing anyone new over."

"How's that going?" Claire was dreading the response. She knew they didn't have enough ferries scheduled in a single day that could actually evacuate the entire island, even if they went over capacity. She was picturing packed monorail cars and people shoving on the docks.

"Actually, it's been fine," Lowery said. "I'm looking at the video from the dock right now and it's not even full. Mostly, it seems to be people who were going to leave today anyway — those who were checking out or who were only over here for the day."

"How's Main Street holding up?"

"It's packed," Lowery admitted. "The restaurants are definitely doing good business. Everyone seemed nervous at the start, when we were first bringing people in. But we've been running the T. rex and Mosasaur shows to keep people occupied. The longer this goes, the more tempers will start to flare, but, so far… not good, but better than expected."

"That's good," Claire said absently, her mind whirling. "Okay, I need to get back there." She looked around, before remembering, and looking up. "I'm going to try to get us a ride on the helicopter." She covered the mic on her phone, turning to Commander Austin who was directing the ACU's response and asked him if he could get the helicopter for her. After he nodded, she focused back on her phone. "Lowery, in the meantime, I need you to get some vets out here."

"We've already dispatched a couple of trucks. Wait, are the Indoraptors still alive?" Claire could hear the horror in Lowery's voice.

"No," she quickly reassured him, although, after she said it, she realized she wasn't actually 100% sure. "But the raptors are down and I'm not sure how injured. There's also an Apatosaurus and a Triceratops that need assistance. And we'll need to move the Indoraptors too. We're probably going to need more trucks."

"Not sure they'll fit on them," Lowery said. "I'll talk with the Chief of the Veterinary Department and see what they need and get it out there."

"Thanks," Claire said. She saw the helicopter landing south of where she was standing, and she gestured to the boys to head in that direction. "I'm about to get on the helicopter. I'll be there in ten."

o-o-o

It happened so fast, that Owen wasn't quite sure if it was his shot that had taken the Indoraptor down or something else. But mid-lunge, the Indoraptor had suddenly faltered, its movements changing to an uncontrolled fall. He'd managed to dive off the ATV and out of the way of the falling Indoraptor. It was definitely a better option than being squished, but, as he shifted his left shoulder carefully, his muscles protesting the movement, he was definitely going to be covered in bruises tomorrow.

He moved carefully back towards the prone Indoraptor, prodding it with the butt of his gun, but it didn't even twitch. Pretty sure it was dead now, he let himself relax, turning his attention back down to the valley below, realizing he had no idea what had happened after he'd pulled away.

Squinting, Owen recognized Barry among a group of ACU tending to the raptors. The gyrosphere was sitting with one door open, but he couldn't see the boys or Claire. There were some ACU gathered by the first Indoraptor, and he could see a few more headed his way. The helicopter was hovering above, the gunner clearly not quite ready to believe that the Indoraptors were dead. Owen didn't blame him, and was thankful that _someone_ was on the lookout.

Once the ACU had joined him, Owen spent a few minutes chatting with them about the next steps (and confirming as a group that, yes, the Indoraptors really were dead). Eventually, he was able to break away from them and take one of the ATVs across the field towards the raptors. He could see that a couple of the vet trucks had arrived while he'd been distracted and were parked around the raptors. That was good, they were definitely going to need some medical assistance.

"How are they doing?" Owen headed straight for Barry who was standing by Delta, watching as Molly worked on her.

"Blue's doing the best," Barry said. "But she was doing the best before she got hit by the tranq. Charlie has a really bad cut on her leg." He pointed over to where the raptor was surrounded by a few vet techs. "They think she'll need stitches at a minimum. Echo had exhausted herself. I really didn't want to shoot her, but I couldn't get her to calm down and we had to. We didn't have time to adjust the dose and we pulled the tranq as quickly as we could, but they're concerned about her heart."

"And Delta?" Owen asked, crouching down and resting his hand on the raptors neck, relieved to notice that he could see her chest moving, and she was warm. He could see that her eye was covered tightly with gauze, but he couldn't see anything else noticeably wrong. Well, she was covered in scrapes and what were likely punctures from the Indoraptors teeth, but nothing looked _fatal_ on its own.

It was Molly who answered him. "It's touch and go right now. There's significant damage to her right eye and we think she's got a ruptured spleen. She appears to be hemodynamically stable, and if she remains so, we won't have to operate. But…"

"Hemo–?" Owen asked.

"So far her heart's doing its job," Molly clarified. "If it continues to do so, she'll likely heal on her own. But, we'll have to keep her under close observation. She can't be roughhousing. In fact, we'll likely need to keep her under sedation for at least the next 48 hours, probably longer. Can't exactly explain to a dinosaur they need to take it easy."

"What's the plan for the others? Can we take them back to the paddock?"

"Blue for sure," Molly said immediately, before looking thoughtful. "We want to see how Echo does over the next couple of hours. See if her heart remains steady and she starts to wake up. We can probably observe that at the paddock. For Charlie, we need to get some x-rays, confirm there's nothing worse going on in that leg of hers. So she and Delta will be going back to the Paleovet Center."

"Miller is arranging transportation," Barry spoke up. "We need to start clearing out this area. It's too visible." Owen was momentarily confused, but he followed Barry's gaze and saw that he was looking off to the southwest where he could see the monorail platform. Right, he scowled, gotta make it look good for guests. With this over, he wondered if they'd be opening up the park again soon. Then, he wondered, what had happened to the guests? He hadn't heard anything after the Phase One.

Which reminded him of something else: the paddock. "We're going to need a… cleaning crew at the paddock," Owen said.

"Meyer's on it," a new voice chimed in, and Owen turned to see Greg, one of the ACU members, had joined them. "Coulson is back there with her, and they've started to get things sorted. She did want to know what to do about the paddock techs."

Owen had forgotten about his staff all holed up in the small office building. He'd been too focused on getting to the raptors. For a brief second, he wondered how Claire was holding up, her list had to be ten times the length of his. Sighing heavily, he held out his hand to Greg, "Can I use your radio?"

o-o-o

As Claire led the boys into the elevator, she had to fight her instinct to press the button for the control room, instead choosing her office floor. Beside her, Gray was still busy chattering about everything that had happened, and how that was the first helicopter ride he'd ever had and how it was _so awesome_. She was nodding along as if she was paying attention, but her mind was too busy trying to sort out how she was going to deal with everything.

The Indoraptors were dead, which meant the grand opening for their exhibit, which was to occur in just a few weeks, was not happening. All the presale tickets she'd have to deal with. And talking with Verizon and…

"Are you okay?" Zach's voice was low, and Claire hadn't realized he'd stepped closer to her side in the elevator. She forced a smile onto her face and gave him a nod. "I'm not a little kid, you know," he said, and his piercing gaze reminded her almost of Owen's, which just sent her brain spiraling down a different path.

"I'm… I'll be fine," Claire said, just as the elevator dinged and the doors started to open. Zach didn't look like he believed her, but Claire reached out to grab his arm, letting Gray off the elevator first. She gave it a reassuring squeeze. "I will be. There's just a hell of a lot of stuff I need to deal with now."

"Mom!" Gray's shout was almost immediately followed by Karen, and Claire and Zach stepped out of the elevator just as Karen reached them. Karen grabbed Gray into a hug, holding him tightly for a couple of moments, before she pushed him away, her eyes scanning him over, looking for injuries.

"They're not hurt," Claire reminded her sister. "I _told_ you that."

"C'mere, Zach." Karen ignored Claire, letting go of Gray briefly to grab for Zach instead, giving him the same look over before she pulled him into a hug.

"We're fine," Zach said when his mom finally let him go. "Aunt Claire's right, we're not hurt."

"What happened? Where were you? What's going on?" Karen asked, her words tumbling all over each other in their haste to come out. She looked over at Claire, giving her a quick scan over this time, a frown settling on her face when she noticed Claire's sneakers. "What got out? Is everyone okay?"

"Everyone's–" Claire cut herself off, unable to actually finish the sentence with 'fine.' Too many people _weren't_ fine. Not that her family knew that. Not yet, anyway. And she didn't want to mention it now. Thankfully the boys hadn't witnessed any of the earlier fallout. "We had an issue with our new asset," she finally went with, and Zach immediately snorted, his hand coming up trying to cover his laugh. Claire glared at him, before turning back to her sister. "They got out and ended up in the Gyrosphere Valley."

"Wait…" Karen paled, her gaze darting between her sons again before looking at Claire. "The boys… you guys were going to the gyrospheres, right? Were you _there_?"

"In the middle!" Gray exclaimed, his face lighting up with excitement. "You should've seen it. It was _so cool_. There were these two big dinosaurs, although," he turned to look at Claire, a frown appearing, "I don't know what they were. They didn't look like anything I've seen before. But they were there. _And_, the raptors were there, too! And they were fighting each other."

"They were what?" Karen's face had paled even more, and Claire quickly moved to her sister's side, afraid she was about to collapse. Zach seemed to have sensed the same thing, as he went to his mom's other side. "Why didn't you evacuate when it said to?"

"They're fine," Claire repeated. "It's not as bad as Gray–"

"Our gyrosphere got stuck." Gray didn't seem to be understanding the impact his comments were having on his mom. "But when they were fighting, they bumped us and we got free. And then they would crash into the side of it, and we'd go spinning. It was like being on the coolest teacups ride ever."

"I think I need to sit down," Karen moaned.

"Gray, shut up," Zach ground out, glaring at his brother, who finally seemed to clue in on his mom's reaction.

"Oh," Gray said. "We're fine, mom, I swear. We were inside the gyrosphere the whole time. Perfectly safe. Did you know those things can withstand 50 caliber bullets?"

"Were you _shot at_?" Karen was looking even more horrified now.

"Well, no," Gray said, looking confused. "They didn't start shooting until after we were away. And _that_ was so cool. They had a gun on a helicopter! It was like something out of an action movie. And Owen was there, too!" Gray paused, a concerned look crossing his face, before he turned his attention away from his mom to look at Claire. "Is Owen okay? They didn't get him, did they?" Before Claire even had a chance to answer, Gray was looking back at his mom. "Owen drove his ATV right into the middle of it all! The weird dinosaurs chased after him."

"He's fine," Claire interrupted. When they had finally taken off in the helicopter, she'd had a chance to get a good look at the whole outcome, and had been able to pick out Owen standing with some of the ACU by the downed Indoraptors. "I need to get down to the control room. Do you guys want to stay here for a bit? Or–"

"I'm starving," Zach interrupted. "Can we eat?"

"Hamburgers!" Gray said, nodding eagerly.

"Um," Karen was still looking a little pale and uneasy.

"Tell you what," Claire said. "Why don't you guys go back to the hotel. Get some food and take it easy. I'm going to be busy dealing with the fallout, but I'll catch up with you later."

"Is it safe to stay here?" Karen asked.

"Perfectly," Claire replied immediately. Her sister looked unconvinced. "I promise, Kar. I wouldn't put you in harm's way."

Karen gave a bit of a hollow laugh. "Forgive me, Claire, for struggling with that right now after…" She looked between the boys and then back to Claire.

"They're fine," Claire repeated. "I'm fine, too. Everything's going to be okay. The assets are all contained again. The park will probably be back to normal in the morning." She gave her sister a grin, "Besides, I distinctly remember you saying you wanted to live vicariously through me."

This time Karen's laugh was a bit more genuine. "Yeah, well, next time I say that? Remind me of today."

o-o-o

Owen awoke with a gasp. He could feel his heart pounding and hands shaking. It took him thirty seconds to figure out where he was and that everything was okay.

He had no memory of going home the previous night. In fact, the last thing he remembered was standing on the catwalk, staring down into the raptor paddock watching Blue and Echo, and feeling lost. He remembered being relieved that it looked like all four were going to be okay, although the long term effects of Delta and Charlie's injuries were unknown. But he didn't remember anything after that.

Sitting up more fully in bed, he took a moment to take stock. Yes, he was in his trailer and in his bed. But, clearly he really had been tired the night before, because he was on top of his covers, still fully dressed, all the way down to his boots. He briefly wondered how he'd managed to get home, and then decided he didn't want to know, and that he'd just focus on the fact that he apparently managed to do so while staying in one piece.

It was dark in his room, even though his curtains were open, and a glance at his bedside table showed that it was just after 5 in the morning. Too early.

He shifted until he was sitting on the side of his bed, leaning down to slip his boots off. Scrubbing his hands down his face, he debated what he should do next. He wanted to climb under the covers, but he knew if he did, he'd be asleep again in seconds and he also was feeling really gross, and just wanted out of his clothes.

Propelling himself up, he made his way to his tiny bathroom, shedding his clothes along the way, before stepping under the hot spray of the shower. He let it soothe his muscles that had started to ache now that he was up and moving, reminding him of his acrobatics the previous day as he'd fought to stay alive.

It wasn't long until the shower ran cold, and he wandered back into his bedroom, reaching into his dresser for a pair of boxers. Owen had just turned back to his bed when a thought hit him — _What had happened to Claire and the boys?_

In the hustle and bustle immediately after the Indoraptors had gone down, Owen had been too busy — too focused — on dealing first with the Indoraptors and then his raptors that he'd ended up completely forgetting about them. There hadn't been a moment to just _think_, everything had been happening too quickly. But now, he realized, he didn't actually know if they were okay. He didn't actually know how _anyone_ was, besides those who had ended up back at the raptor paddock with him.

He searched around his trailer, eventually finding his phone on the small countertop in the kitchen, and quickly called Claire. He waited, impatiently pacing back and forth, his trailer too tiny and only allowing him a few steps in either direction, as the phone rang. And rang. And eventually switched to voicemail. Hanging up, he glared at it, and then called her again. It was early, and if she was anywhere as tired as him, she may not have heard it. Again, he paced while it rang, and again, it eventually went to voicemail.

Owen was starting to get worried. What if something _had_ happened to Claire? Or to the boys? A stray bullet? A blast from the grenade launcher? The Indoraptors? He tried to calm himself down, to remind himself that he was overreacting, but it didn't help.

He dressed in a hurry, barely paying attention to what he was pulling on, hastily searching his junk drawer for the key he'd never returned, and then rushing out of his trailer. To his relief (and also his horror) he found his motorcycle sitting parked outside. Had he really ridden that home last night? Deciding not to think about it, he focused on his luck that he had transportation, and was soon racing across the island.

Parking at the hotel, and feeling more awake, he suddenly felt stupid about his rush over there. Sitting on his motorcycle, he tried her phone again, and again got sent to voicemail. Pulling out the keycard he'd never gotten rid of, he stared at it, and then decided that fuck it, he was okay with her yelling at him for showing up, he just needed to see that she was all right.

He was mildly surprised when his keycard let him press the button for her floor, but he was too jittery to really think about it, the ride taking longer than he remembered. When he finally got off on her floor, he hesitated outside her door. What was he doing?

Once again, he tried calling her, and once again, voicemail. He decided to try knocking, but there was no response. A glance at his watch and he saw that it was after 5:30, which meant that she _should_ be awake. He knocked again, louder, but still silence.

Pulling out his key again he held it up, and when the green light came on, he pushed the door open, entering her place slowly.

"Claire?" he called out. Owen could hear the alarm going off in her room, but besides that, it was silent. He toed off his shoes before creeping further into her place. Her bedroom door was wide open, which wasn't like her if she was sleeping, and a glance through it showed the bed still made.

His shoulders fell. She wasn't there.

He entered her bedroom to turn off the alarm, before retreating back to the living room, not sure what to do now. He had Gray's number, but it felt too early to message him. Where _was_ she?

o-o-o

The sun was just inching its way back over the horizon when Claire was finally able to leave Control. She wasn't quite sure how she was still upright, and she knew that she had been more than useless the past couple of hours, but she'd felt like she had to be there. That she had to make sure things were being taken care of. That she could _control_ the response.

But now that she was finally making her way down Main Street, all she wanted was to get home so she could curl up in her bed for a few hours. And shower. And change. But sleep was number one on her list.

The street was empty at the early hour. The shops wouldn't be opening for a couple more, and even the employees wouldn't be arriving for a while. Everything felt quiet and still. A 180 from the past 24 hours, when it felt like everything had been moving at breakneck speed. Even the control room she'd just left was still humming, people working away at their assigned tasks.

Claire couldn't even remember where she'd parked her car. Her mind blanking on if she'd even driven it back after everything or if it was still out near the Gyrosphere Valley. Not that it mattered, not now. There was no way she'd trust herself behind the wheel. Of course, the downside was that the monorail hadn't started up for the day yet, and so she was stuck walking back to her place.

Not that she really minded it. After the constant noise and chaos, even in her tired state, Claire felt overwhelmed and on edge. Fresh air and a walk sounded like a good way to unwind so that she actually would be able to sleep.

Passing by the lagoon, she stopped, moving closer and watching the slight ripples to the water from the wind. It took a while, but she eventually saw the Mosasaur — well, the dark shadow of the Mosasaur — mostly evidenced by the ripples it left behind as it swam by. Normally, the sight was comforting, but this morning she found herself taking an involuntary step back. While the Mosasaur had never tried to kill anyone, it was hard to look at _any_ of the dinosaurs the same way after yesterday.

Continuing along the path, she wondered if this was the right place for her anymore. Or if it was time to finally move on. To look to another park, another job, another place. One where the exhibits _didn't_ want to eat the visitors. But as quickly as the thought came, Claire dismissed it. This was her home. It was one of the first places she'd ever felt like she truly belonged, and where she'd been able to make a difference. She wasn't ready to give up on it yet.

Yesterday was a setback, there was no doubt about that. But she wasn't ready to put the park behind her. Not yet. There were still things she wanted to do.

o-o-o

He was sitting on the couch when the door finally opened. He'd spent the first half hour he'd been there restlessly pacing back and forth, not sure what to do, and just hoping that she'd walk through the door. And then, when she hadn't, he'd collapsed onto the couch, where his eyes had landed on his Xbox, sitting in the same spot where he'd left it, over a year ago.

Owen wasn't sure why it surprised him, he'd been able to let himself into her place with his key she'd never reclaimed, after all. But maybe it was for the same reason he'd been surprised when his key had first allowed him access to her floor, and then unlocked the door to her place. Sure, he'd never been able to bring himself to go back to her place to retrieve his things, but he'd never, he was realizing, actually thought that she'd kept everything the same. That she hadn't had her condo keys re-coded or given away his Xbox.

The first couple of weeks after they broke up, after she'd come out to his place, every time he'd go home, he'd actually expected to see a box of his stuff sitting by his door. When it hadn't shown up, he'd assumed she'd decided it wasn't worth her time or effort. Or, maybe, that she, like him, hadn't wanted to accidentally cross paths. Her not returning his stuff had just made it easier for him to be sure that the breakup was what she wanted. And while that had made him angry (and sad), it had also helped him start to move on.

But now, staring at his Xbox, he was realizing that maybe he'd misread everything. He'd thought he'd known her. After things had ended, he had started to wonder if he really had. For him, the longer they'd been together, the more the line between real and fake had blurred until he hadn't known what was what. Well, that's not exactly true. He'd known where _his_ actions stood, but he'd never known about hers. He'd always assumed that if she'd wanted more, she would've said something. She wasn't one who shied from what she wanted. But now, realizing she hadn't cut him out of her life, not as fully as he'd believed, he was starting to think that maybe, just maybe, everything was going to be okay.

Of course, thinking that, _hoping that_, didn't prevent him from standing up and turning towards the door as it opened, and having the first words that left his mouth not be a declaration of love, but instead: "What the hell, Claire?! Where have you been? Why haven't you been answering your phone?"

"How did you get in?" Her reply startled him, but he pulled out the keycard he'd shoved back into his pocket earlier, waving it at her before tossing it onto the coffee table.

"You never asked for it back," Owen shrugged.

"I told you to return it when you got the rest of your stuff," Claire reminded him. He watched as she walked past him into her kitchen, pulling out her phone and plugging it in to charge. She then reached into the cupboard and pulled out a glass and filled it with water before taking a small sip. He waited for her to say something else, but she just took another sip.

"That's it? You're not going to say anything else?" Owen finally asked, growing more uncomfortable in the silence. He walked into the kitchen and watched as she carefully put the glass down before turning to look at him.

"What do you want me to say?" Claire demanded, her tone angry. "I haven't slept in over 24 hours. I just had over 15 employees die. My nephews were caught in the middle of a dinosaur battle and…" Owen watched as she practically crumpled in on herself, shoulders deflating. "I just can't do this. I can't fight with you. Not now. Not today. If that's what you want? Just... Go home, Owen."

"I didn't… I don't…" Owen trailed off as he took a closer look at her, seeing not just the droop of her shoulders but that she looked like she was barely managing to stay upright. "Are you okay?"

"Define okay?" Claire said with a tired chuckle. "I'm… I just…" She let out a sigh, her head falling forward, her eyes closing. Owen attempted to wait her out, but a few seconds later when she hadn't said anything else, he moved forward, reaching out until his hands landed on her shoulders. She startled, looking up at him, and he let his hands drift down her arms until he was holding her hands.

"Claire," Owen said, his voice soft. He felt hypnotized, eyes locked on hers, and everything he wanted to say fell away.

"Yeah?" Claire's reply was equally soft.

"I… I'm really glad you're okay," Owen said, chickening out. He watched as she blinked slowly, before one of her hands came up to rest on his forearm.

"I'm really glad you are, too," Claire said. "I–" She was interrupted by a giant yawn and she raised her hand to cover her mouth. "I'm sorry. I haven't had any sleep." She looked out the kitchen towards the doorway to her bedroom, a wistful look in her eyes before she looked at him again. "I have another big meeting at one."

"Right, sorry," Owen took a step back, letting go of her hands and shoving his into his pockets. "I shouldn't be here. I'm sorry." He had just turned to walk away when he felt Claire's hand grab his wrist, tugging him back.

"No, please." When he turned back, he was surprised by the embarrassed look in her eyes, and the slight blush colouring her cheeks. "Just… could you stay?" Claire asked, her eyes darting away from his, the blush on her cheeks deepening. He waited, and a couple of moments later she looked to him again. "I don't want to be alone," she admitted, and Owen quickly took the couple of steps back towards her.

"Sure, yeah," Owen agreed, nodding. "I can just–" He looked around her place before his gaze caught on his Xbox again. "I'll just be right there." He pointed at the couch.

"Oh, okay," Claire said, biting her lip and Owen looked from the couch to her and back again a couple of times, confused. He knew he was reading something wrong. Claire stood up and he took a step back, giving her space to move past him and he watched as she walked to her bedroom. She paused in the doorway, and he could feel his heart start racing, before she disappeared into her room.

Letting out a long breath, Owen reached for the glass of water she'd left behind and had a long drink, before placing it back down and heading for the couch. They could talk more after she slept.

He was just turning on the TV when he heard a quiet "Owen" from behind him, and he whipped his head around to see that Claire was back in the doorway of her bedroom, although now clad in pajama shorts and a t-shirt.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Could you…" Claire blushed for a second time and Owen wasn't sure what to make of it. "Would you mind…" She trailed off again, but this time she gestured behind her, into her bedroom.

It took him a couple of seconds before he got what she was asking, and he felt himself blush at his stupidity. "Of course," Owen said quickly, having watched Claire's expression falter when he hadn't reacted right away. He practically leapt over the back of the couch, reaching her side. He followed her back into her bedroom. "I've missed your bed, you know," he told her, moving automatically towards his side.

He was in the middle of undoing his belt and pulling off his pants when he realized what he was doing. For all the nights they'd shared together and for all the mornings they'd gotten ready together, they'd never actually undressed (or dressed) in the other's company. He looked over at Claire to see that she was busy climbing into the bed and not paying him any attention and so he quickly finished what he was doing, pulling his shirt off until he was stripped down to his boxers and undershirt.

He pulled back the sheets before climbing in, squirming around until he was comfortable and letting out a satisfied sigh. "This. I've missed this." He looked over at Claire, surprised when she didn't laugh, only to see that she was curled on her side facing him, already fast asleep.

Letting out another breath, he turned on his side, using the opportunity to study her. He'd missed her, he knew that. But being back there, in her place, in her _bed_, was making him realize that it wasn't just her friendship that he missed. It was the sense of home she'd brought to his life. The sense of family. He knew he wouldn't be able to walk away from this again.

* * *

_I hope the ending of the battle stuff was satisfying. And I told you there would be clawen — eventually, slow slow slow slow burn, remember? More in the final chapter(!) next week. And also dealing with some of the fallout. :) _

_Thanks to everyone who's stuck with this (behemoth) of a story. We've almost made it to the end. I'd love to hear any thoughts you have about it. And any ideas you have for what you'd want to see in a potential sequel (I am _trying_ to get it to happen)._


	28. Chapter 28

_So... I hadn't actually done a word count on chapter 28, and it turned out it was over 8.5k. There's a really big scene in the middle, and I talked with Elise and Nadin and decided to chop it into two chapters (and then added a bit more detail). Hope you don't mind. And there's still clawen content in both. :)_

**Chapter 28**

Owen wasn't sure what woke him, but he didn't care. He was actually pretty sure he was dreaming. He remembered a morning like this before, waking up in Claire's bed, her body tucked into his, his arms wrapped around her, his nose buried in her hair. He didn't want to open his eyes, didn't want to find out if it was a dream.

"Found her, well, _them_."

The voice confused him, but he brushed it aside, just tugging Claire closer, breathing deeper.

"Them?" A second voice joined in, and Owen finally started to fully wake up. "Oh. Ooooh."

He bit back his groan, his brain finally assigning a name to the voice. Karen.

"Should we leave them?" the first voice — Gray, he now realized — asked.

Claire groaned, interrupting Karen before she could reply. Owen felt Claire shift in his arms, and he loosened his grip, allowing her to turn. He finally opened his eyes, glad his back was to the door of the room, and that Karen and Gray couldn't see he was awake yet. He looked down to see Claire blinking up at him, looking confused, but content.

"Claire?" Karen spoke up barely a fraction of a second later, and Owen felt Claire immediately stiffen, before she shifted again, this time pulling away from him.

"Karen?" Claire asked, a loud yawn escaping as she raised a hand to rub at her eyes. Owen continued to lay on his side, wishing he could pretend to still be asleep, as Claire pushed up into a sitting position. "What are you doing here?"

Flopping onto his back, figuring the jig was up, Owen closed his eyes briefly, running his hand down his face, before he copied Claire's actions. Sitting up, he turned towards the door where both Karen and Gray were standing.

"We've been trying to get a hold of you all morning," Karen said. "Finally thought we'd see if you were here." Karen's expression turned into a bit of a sly smirk as she looked over at Owen. "Didn't expect to find _you_ here, Owen."

"I thought you weren't dating anymore," Gray said, his brows furrowed.

Owen held his breath, not really sure how to answer that. He knew the answer — they _weren't_ dating — but he didn't want to say that. He wondered how Claire was going to answer. Would she be defensive? Would she tell the truth?

"What time is it?" Claire's response caught them all off guard, if Karen and Gray's expressions were any indicator, as she ignored Gray's question completely. Owen watched as Karen huffed, before glancing at her watch.

"Just after 11:30," Karen supplied. "You're not usually one for sleeping in."

"I didn't get home until after six," Claire said, a yawn interrupting her words. "Dammit, I need to get ready."

Claire climbed out of the bed and headed for her dresser. Owen continued to sit there, not really sure what he was supposed to do. He didn't feel all that keen on getting out, not while in just his boxers and undershirt, and not with the way that Karen kept looking at him, like he was a piece of meat.

"Aunt Claire, what's the password for–" Owen turned to see Zach now standing in the doorway. Zach looked between Owen and Claire a couple of times, before he turned his attention to Owen instead. "Owen, what's your password for the Xbox?"

"My password?" Owen looked at Zach blankly for a moment. "It doesn't have a password."

"It's asking for one," Zach said, pointing back to where the TV was.

Owen briefly scrubbed at his jaw as he debated what to do, before pushing back the covers and climbing out of the bed. He tried to ignore the feeling of Karen's eyes on him, as he reached for the pants he'd discarded earlier and pulled them back on. This whole situation felt so awkward, and yet, everyone was acting like it was perfectly normal. That it was normal for him to be there, and normal for them all to be seeing him and Claire like that. He wanted to ask what the hell was going on, but he also didn't want to talk about it. He grabbed his shirt and was just sliding it on when he caught Claire's eye, as she stood up with a pile of clothes in her hands. They locked gazes briefly and she gave the tiniest shrug, as if in apology for her family. He replied with a slight nod of acknowledgement before finishing buttoning his shirt.

"I don't think there should be a password," Owen repeated, turning towards Zach and heading out of the room. "Let's see."

He'd barely passed through the doorway when he could hear Karen hissing at Claire behind him. "What's going on? You're _sleeping_ with him? I thought you weren't even really talking!" Owen wished he could hear Claire's response, but the sound was muffled by Gray and Zach both chatting eagerly, and he tried to focus on what they were saying instead.

He helped them get set up on the Xbox before heading into the kitchen. While he'd slept twice now, he was still feeling tired, and he knew that Claire had to be exhausted. He had just finished putting on a pot of coffee when he heard the shower start up. His stomach growling, he started looking through the fridge, trying to decide if there was anything edible, when he heard someone clearing their throat from behind him. Closing the fridge door, he turned around, unsurprised to see that Karen had joined him in the kitchen.

"So?" Karen asked, an eyebrow cocked in question.

"So?" Owen repeated, crossing his arms over his chest, leaning against the fridge.

"Really?" Karen huffed. "C'mon, tell me something. How did you end up here? What's going on? Are you taking my advice?" Owen stayed silent and Karen groaned. "You're really not going to say anything?"

"Nope," he said simply.

He watched as Karen studied him, and saw the moment she gave up, switching topics. "The boys said you were there yesterday."

"I was," Owen nodded.

"Can you tell me about what happened?" Karen asked, her voice dropping to a whisper, her gaze darting quickly over at the TV where Zach and Gray were thankfully too engrossed in their game.

"Didn't they tell you?" Owen wasn't sure what he could add to what the boys or Claire could've said. He didn't actually know much about their involvement. He wasn't sure how they'd ended up there in the first place, or how their part in everything ended. His only interaction with them had been the quick wave he'd seen at one point.

"They did," Karen agreed. "I just… I don't know if they were leaving anything out. They're acting like it was no big deal."

"What did Claire say?" Owen asked.

"That she can't tell me much more," Karen groaned. "But I barely saw her yesterday. Only briefly when I met her to get the boys and then she disappeared. It's why we came by. Yesterday she'd said she would catch up later. And when she didn't, and nothing this morning, I was starting to get worried."

"There's a lot of fallout for her to deal with, after something like this," Owen said. "She wouldn't have been ignoring you on purpose."

"I know," Karen said. "I just don't know if I should believe them — when they say they're fine. They were apparently in the middle of a dinosaur fight. How does that happen? How can they be fine?"

Owen stayed quiet again. Between not actually seeing what had happened with them, not after he'd taken off with the Indoraptors chasing him, and now knowing that Claire had told Karen she couldn't say more, he wasn't sure what he could (or should) add. However, Karen's pleading look, reminiscent of the one he'd seen on Claire's face before, was starting to make his resolve crumble.

"Oh, you made coffee." Claire's arrival into the kitchen saved him.

"I did," Owen said. He opened the fridge again, grabbing the cream, before taking the couple of steps across the kitchen to grab some mugs, grateful for the distraction. "I'd rather drink mine than yours." He quickly filled a cup, doctoring it just the way Claire liked it before handing it over. He turned to Karen, and lifted a second mug in question.

"Just black for me," Karen said. Owen filled the mug and passed it over, before finally filling one for himself. Reaching back into the cupboard to find the sugar, he spooned multiple spoonfuls into his mug, adding an extra one as he fought a yawn. When he finally raised his mug for a sip, he saw Karen's look of disgust.

"How do you drink that?" Karen asked.

"How do you drink _that_?" Owen pointed at hers, giving a dramatic shudder.

"I've got to head back into Control," Claire interrupted them. "I need to get prepared for this meeting."

"Everything okay?" Owen asked, before immediately wincing. Obviously things weren't. "I mean, what are they expecting? Who's going to be there?"

"Everyone," Claire sighed. "Well, the heads of the various departments involved. ACU, Vets, Henry… Need to understand where we're at and what we're working with."

"Better you than me," Owen raised his mug in a mock toast. "Good luck with that."

"Actually," Claire looked thoughtful. "It wouldn't hurt to have you there. You were the only person at the raptor paddock and in the valley."

"So was Barry. Get him," Owen quickly suggested. "I hate meetings, Claire. Besides, I need to get back out to the paddock. I need to see how they're doing. Get an update from Molly."

"She'll be at the meeting," Claire offered up "If you want to talk to her, you need to come."

He looked down at his jeans and button up and then over at Claire who was looking all polished in her perfectly pressed business suit. "I'm not getting changed," he said firmly.

"That's fine," Claire just smiled at him sweetly.

"And I need something to eat. You have no food, Claire," Owen added, remembering his search of her fridge. "I'm not going in on an empty stomach."

"We can grab something on the way over. Or, oh, actually I'll get Zara to grab something. That'll save us time. Yoshinoya?" Owen clenched his jaw, knowing he wasn't going to be able to get out of this, and nodded curtly. "Your usual?" He nodded again.

He watched as Claire walked over to where her phone was charging, unplugging it before opening it up, clearly done with the conversation for now. He scrubbed a hand over his jaw in frustration, before gulping down the rest of his coffee. Another thought hit him, and his eyes lit up. "I need to brush my teeth."

"You know where the extra toothbrushes are," Claire just said absently. "But hurry up. We need to get going."

Groaning, he set down his empty mug. When he passed Karen on his way out of the kitchen he received a sympathetic pat on the arm. This was not how he'd been expecting this day to go.

o-o-o

Claire couldn't remember when she'd lost track of Owen. Along with her family, they had taken the monorail across the lagoon before parting ways. She remembered that Owen was still with her when they'd reached Control. She remembered being greeted immediately by Zara. But everything after that was a blur.

She'd scarfed down her breakfast-slash-lunch while Zara had hurriedly filled her in on everything that had happened that morning. She couldn't even remember if Owen was still there during that. But now, taking her seat in the conference room, she wondered where he was, and hoped he wasn't going to no show. The more she had looked over everything in preparation, the more she'd believed that his presence was needed.

The invite list for the meeting had clearly grown. While they were in the largest conference room, there wasn't enough seats around the table. Someone, at least, had some foresight, and had brought in extra chairs to line the walls. The chairs at the table filled up quickly, although it was clear that people were being deferential to others' positions, with assistants choosing seats along the walls.

By the time Owen finally walked through the door (and Claire let out a quiet sigh of relief) the table was full. She watched as he looked around the room, his gaze meeting hers briefly, before choosing a seat along one wall and wondered if she should've saved a seat for him at the table. It was too late to do anything now.

Masrani was the last one through the door, the hum of the various conversations around the room evaporating in an instant. Claire knew Masrani had been on a phone call with the Board prior to the meeting, and she wasn't sure if she should be relieved or more worried that he looked relaxed and happy.

Shuffling the papers in front of her, she made sure she had everything organized and easily accessible. She knew there was nothing else she could've done to prepare for the meeting, but that didn't make her feel any better.

"Okay," Masrani sat down at the head of the table, and everyone looked to him. "Well, yesterday… that was… unexpected."

There was a muffled scoff, and Claire's gaze darted immediately to Owen, who caught her looking and just gave her an innocent look. She really hoped he was going to be able to keep it together through the meeting, especially knowing the topics that were likely to come up.

Masrani ignored Owen and continued. "I want to say how proud I am of our response to the incident. While this was not our first Code 19, it was our first Phase One evacuation, and I am so pleased that we were able to execute it in such an orderly fashion. Guests were quickly corralled back into the resort area and we were able to keep them calm and entertained. Not a single guest was injured and we've managed to keep a tight lid on what happened, with our PR team doing an excellent job controlling the narrative. Right now, the official messaging is that we had a medical emergency with a couple of the dinosaurs in the Gyrosphere Valley and that it will be temporarily closed for a few days. Guests seem satisfied with the explanation."

It was Claire's turn to scoff, but she covered it with a cough. "Not _all_ guests," she said, and Masrani gave the barest hint of acknowledgement.

"Our ability to successfully run Jurassic World has always been predicated on our ability to handle any incidents that arise. Yesterday, we showed that we are up for the task. We should all give ourselves a round of applause."

There was a light spattering of clapping as Masrani finished, but Claire noticed that many of those in the room, herself and Owen included, looked mostly uncomfortable. Sure, things could've ended up a whole lot worse, but that didn't mean that the final outcome was good. It was just… less bad.

"As of this morning, the park is back to being almost fully operational. We were able to resume normal ferry operations yesterday evening. While there was a backup of guests who had expected to arrive at the park yesterday afternoon, we ran a couple of extra sailings and were able to get everyone where they needed to be. For those that were delayed by the ferry interruptions, we provided them with a voucher for a free meal." Masrani looked down at his notes before finishing, "I have been informed that ferry traffic is back to expected levels today. That combined with the reopening of most of the attractions and the park seems to be humming along just fine."

Claire perked up at the comment about vouchers, realizing that one of the (many) things she still needed to deal with and sort out was compensation for her nephews. Just because they were her relations, didn't disqualify them from deserving _something_. After all, if any other guests had ended up stuck in a gyrosphere, regardless of the whole Indoraptors issue, the park would be giving them some sort of compensation for their trouble, like a voucher for a free meal, or gift certificate to the spa, or upgraded park passes. Scribbling on the margins of the paper in front of her, she made a note to not forget it. Although what sort of compensation you can give people after being almost eaten by dinosaurs, she wasn't sure. The silver lining, at least, was that the whole incident showed just how strong those gyrosphere really were.

"Claire, who's up first?" Masrani asked, as he sat down in his chair.

She quickly checked the agenda in front of her. "We're going to start with Stephen Parker to talk about the ACU's response."

"Thanks, Simon and Claire," Parker said, rising from his spot near the other end of the table. "While Simon is right that we were able to get a handle on the situation relatively quickly, there are definitely some clear lessons we can learn from our response and our handling moving forward. In the end, the incident resulted in the deaths of 16 members of the ACU, the Indoraptors' behaviourist James Conrad as well as a paddock technician. Additionally, two people were injured."

The death count information wasn't news to Claire, but there were gasps around the room, as many people clearly hadn't put the severity of the situation together. Claire knew they were lucky that the count was as low as it was, and that the Indoraptors and raptors had stayed close to the northern end of the island. She was still curious as to why that had happened, and how they'd managed to get out of the restricted area of the park. She made another note to have maintenance examine the fencing. She didn't even want to imagine what today would be like if they had ended up on Main Street.

"While the count is much higher than any of us would like, it could've easily been much worse. Thanks to the quick actions of Trooper Lee, the Code 19 was raised within seconds of the initial incident. And while there were casualties at Paddock 11, we were able to get an ACU team mobilized before the Indoraptors had even left the area." Parker paused briefly to turn the page in front of him. "Our second interaction, was, unfortunately, not a highlight of our response and is the area we will need to look into more deeply as we re-evaluate our protocols going forward. While we always want to capture the animals alive, it is apparent that we need to reassess our non-lethal response against the strength and aggressiveness of the animals in question. I would like to note that Commander Hamada's team, may they rest in peace, intercepted the Indoraptors within 15 minutes of their escape and before they were able to get anywhere close to any guests. The strength, speed, and aggressiveness of them was well beyond what we had predicted based on our prior knowledge."

There was a soft murmur around the room, and Claire could see many heads nodding in agreement. She could tell that Owen was gritting his teeth at the comments. She looked over at Henry and saw that he was looking as calm and serene as always. Then again, she was unsure she'd ever really seen him visibly knocked off balance. Listening to Parker speak, Claire felt uneasy. She knew he was just repeating what had happened. And that everyone had followed protocol. But hearing it said aloud, hearing it after the fact, their mistakes seemed so obvious. It didn't feel like saying "hindsight is 20/20" was enough. And, she knew that if she asked Owen, he'd tell her that most of this had been predictable and preventable.

"Following the first team's attempt at capturing, and by tracking the Indoraptors, we were able to have the raptor paddock staff on alert ahead of time. They were able to evacuate most of the employees to a secure area on site," Parker said.

As he continued to talk, Claire found herself focused on Owen's reaction, wondering just how accurate the information she was hearing was. Or maybe accurate wasn't the right word. Parker was probably telling the truth, but that the same scenario could and would be perceived very differently by all those involved.

"The results of the incident at the paddock, including Trooper Coulson's brave attempt with using the truck as a distraction, resulted in only two casualties. That was two too many, but without our advance warnings it could've been much worse."

Claire didn't need to see Owen's reaction to want to roll her own eyes at the line. Sure it could've been worse, but that was missing the bigger point — it could've and should've gone better. Why were they still using non-lethals when the Indoraptors made it to the raptor paddock, when Hamada's whole team had been unable to take them down?

"However, an unexpected result of the events at the raptor paddock was the release of the raptors. I have yet to have a chance to speak with Mr. Hoskins to get his version of events and his reasoning for opening the gates, and so I can't speak on the wisdom of that just yet." Parker gave a little shrug and there was another scoff, Owen not even attempting to hide his disdain from those who looked over at him. And for the second time, Claire regretted suggesting he attend. She was also realizing that she hadn't even thought about Hoskins and now she was wondering how he was doing.

Parker continued on, although he did send a quick glare towards Owen. "Following the raptors' release, we prepared two ACU teams to capture the six dinosaurs out of containment, both armed with lethal weapons."

"Can I interrupt here to say that it should be noted that the Indoraptors went up against non-lethals _three times_ before you made that decision, and yet the raptors were never even given close to that opportunity?" Owen jumped in. He didn't wait for a response before continuing, "And we _know_ that the raptors only require a single tranq dart to take them down. I think lethal weapons should've been engaged on the Indoraptors earlier, if not by Hamada's team, then they definitely should've been approved before they had reached us at the raptor paddock. A measured or proportional response should never be as simple as one or the other. There were multiple failure points that happened here. And you've already glossed over many of them. How were the Indoraptors able to escape in the first place? What happened to provoke that action?"

"The precipitating event is not part of today's discussion," Parker replied stiffly. "I am simply reporting on the ACU's response after the Indoraptors had already escaped."

"I get that. I just think it's impossible to evaluate or even understand the ACU's response without that information. Choosing between lethal and non-lethal or, even better, a combination, needs to take that information into account." Owen gave a shrug. "It seems disingenuous to leave that out."

"Anyway," Parker glared at Owen, "after the two teams were en route, we were also able to use the helicopter for additional support. We got lucky, and the animals converged in the Gyrosphere Valley, where we were able to finally bring down the two Indoraptors and sedate the raptors."

"Only because Barry and I were there," Owen muttered angrily, although in the relative quiet of the room, it was was easily heard.

"Yes, your assistance was valuable," Parker acknowledged, "but I do believe we would've had them contained either way."

"Sure, but the raptors would be _dead_," Owen reminded him. "Your team didn't bring a single tranq gun. It was only because Barry and I had them, that the outcome was what it was."

"After the raptors got released, we had six carnivorous dinosaurs loose on the island," Parker replied, his voice growing noticeably angry. "And not only that, but they were not staying together and we were down 14 ACU members. We no longer had the manpower or time to consider running two different operations. While the teams were being sent out with specific targets, they needed to be able to potentially deal with either species, as both the raptors and Indoraptors appeared to be just wandering across the island. Had we sent out the raptor team with tranq guns and they had run into the Indoraptors, things would've been much worse."

"Again, you seem to think there can only be one or the other," Owen fumed. "Adding a few tranq guns to each unit would've allowed them to have that option. Instead, you removed that ability from them completely."

"We were dealing with a stressful situation and tight timelines. It's easy to make suggestions while sitting around a conference table the day after," Parker ground out. "You weren't in the control room. You didn't have the information I did."

"Okay, before we get too carried away here," Claire jumped in, seeing that Parker looked ready to explode. "I just want to remind everyone that this meeting is just for a general recap of what _did _happen, and to start to plan our next steps. Detailed investigations and re-evaluations of protocol will happen, but not right now." She sent a pointed look at Owen, who just clenched his jaw and looked away. "While I, personally, have a few areas of consideration I would like to examine more closely, I want to keep this meeting moving forward, otherwise, we will never finish." She waited a couple of moments to see if anyone else would interrupt, but no one said anything. "Okay, up next we have Dr. Molly Holt. She's going to give us an update on the raptors and the cause of death for the Indoraptors."

* * *

_Okay, now there really is just one more main chapter left. As always, looking forward to hearing what you think. :)_


	29. Chapter 29

_Well, it's finally here. The final chapter. Well, sort of. There's more coming — check out the notes at the end for more details._

**Chapter 29**

"Okay, up next we have Dr. Molly Holt. She's going to give us an update on the raptors and the cause of death for the Indoraptors."

The attention of the room shifted to Molly as she opened one of the folders in front of her. "We've been busy over in the Paleovet Center dealing with the fallout on all the injured and affected dinosaurs. In the Gyrosphere Valley we lost an Apatosaurus. One Triceratops was also injured, although she's already back with her herd and recovering nicely. The dinosaurs in the valley all retreated during the fight and have been reluctant to venture back. They have been hovering near the far cliffs. We are keeping the area closed to guests for a few days to give them a chance to recover."

"The raptors managed to kill an Apatosaurus? Really?" someone asked, sounding surprised.

"No," Molly shook her head. "Based on the bite marks, it's clear that the Indoraptors are at fault there and for the Triceratops. What we think happened is that the Indoraptors had actually left the Valley before the raptors arrived, but were driven to return by the presence of the helicopter."

"So the response made it worse?" someone else asked.

"That's outside my area of expertise." Molly neatly sidestepped the question. "While we expect the dinosaurs to take a few days to get comfortable again, we don't foresee any long term effects on them." She paused and looked around the room before switching folders. "Let's move on to the results of the necropsies on the two Indoraptors. While both Indoraptors had numerous wounds from their battles with the raptors, as well as from the multiple times they were hit by various guns, neither of those were the actual cause of death for either of them." She flipped a couple of pages over. "First we've got Curie. Curie, for those who aren't familiar, is the first Indoraptor that died. She received significant injuries from the M134. Left untreated, they likely would have resulted in her death. However, she actually died from cardiac tamponade, or fluid in the pericardium." Molly looked up and seemed to realize that everyone was looking at her blankly. "Sorry, that's the sac around the heart. This was not fatal on its own, and the cause of it isn't entirely clear. Nevertheless, it's a common blunt force injury and likely was a result of the events of the day."

Molly closed the folder and moved it to the bottom of the stack, opening the next one. "Hopper, the other Indoraptor, and the one who almost managed to get Owen" — she turned and looked at Owen, as did everyone else in the room — "died from heart failure. Her heart was enlarged and couldn't handle the stress of the day. Of course, had her heart not given out, she too would have likely succumbed to her injuries."

"Wait, they both had heart issues?" The question was raised amongst the murmurings. "How was that not caught beforehand? Shouldn't we have known that?"

"We did," Molly nodded. "And it's something we've been monitoring. You have to remember, these are the first–"

"Every time we create a new species, there's always a likelihood that various… features won't be quite what we're expecting," Henry interrupted, taking over. "In this case, while the Indoraptors were mostly stable, not all their features developed as we expected. About four months ago, we noticed that they were developing heart problems. Flaws are not unexpected."

"Wait, you knew about this? Why wasn't I informed?" Claire asked. Here she'd been trying to get investors for these animals and planning their grand opening. "We can't have people investing in assets that then drop dead."

"They weren't going to drop dead," Henry dismissed. "You're overexaggerating."

"That sounds exactly like what Molly just said happened!" Claire pointed across the table. "One had an enlarged heart. The other also had something wrong with her heart."

"They weren't the same thing," Henry said patiently. "And these were extreme circumstances. It's unlikely the Indoraptors would've been getting shot at if they had remained in their paddock."

"Speaking of getting shot at," Claire was suddenly reminded of the rifle. "Why wasn't I informed that the Indoraptors were part of InGen?"

"What?" The question was asked by multiple people around the room, but Claire's attention was drawn to Owen as he sat up straighter, more invested in the conversation.

"InGen is involved in all the research we do in the lab," Henry replied. "The Indorapters were not special."

"You're obfuscating the issue," Claire said. "I've yet to see any of the other dinosaurs come with their own mind control gun." There were more gasps around the room and Owen was now leaning forward in his chair, but Claire didn't notice. She was too focused on Henry's response.

"It was not _mind control_," Henry scoffed. "You're just trying to stir things up."

"The Indoraptors would freeze when the trigger was held and then attack what the laser was pointed at. How is that _not_ mind control?" Claire asked. "While I don't want to get stuck on the details here, why was an animal designated to become a park attraction being used for what I can only imagine was military-focused research? How does that at _all_ line up with what the goals of the park are?"

"Now, now, hold on a second," Masrani said. "You know that all our assets are expensive to create. And not all of them work out. We were trying something different with the Indoraptors. Instead of creating assets as being fully InGen owned — like the raptors — or owned just by Jurassic World, we were trying a more… joint ownership agreement. We got a new park asset, and in return, during the initial growth phase, InGen was able to perform research on the asset."

"You wanted us to show, to _guests_, dinosaurs that had been trained to _attack_?" Claire half asked, half stated. "Do you not understand the liability you were opening the park up to? Why was I not involved in this decision? Why was I not informed?"

"The Indoraptors were never going to interact directly with the guests," Masrani dismissed her. "Claire, you're making this into something it wasn't."

"No, Simon, you're refusing to acknowledge just how big a deal this is," Claire shot back, anger surging through her. She saw him stiffen at her remark, and it took her a second to realize what she had even said. Yes, she was calling out her boss, but it was also the first time she'd ever called him by his first name to his face. Something akin to the feeling of power settled over her. It was past time that not only she viewed herself as his equal, but that the rest of them at the table did too. The same way those in the control room had deferred to her first, over Simon, yesterday.

"This is my park," Masrani said sharply, his back stiffening even more, an almost glare being sent in her direction.

For the first time, however, Claire felt no need to back down. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Owen leaning forward in his chair, a grin on his face and she knew he was on her side, and that he'd have her back (even if he wasn't actually in a position to do anything to help). "It may be, Simon, but you're not here enough to know what is actually going on. To understand the nuances needed to keep this place running and the guests safe and happy." She realized as the words were coming out that they were so far off topic for the meeting and that this was probably _not_ something she should be saying or raising given who was in attendance. Claire reined herself in. "But, that's not a discussion for right now."

"The Indoraptors were going to be our first trained dinosaur attraction," Masrani said, clearly trying to shift the conversation back closer to what they should be talking about. "Remember, it was _you_ who pushed for us to bring in a behaviourist. We needed to get the most out of the assets."

Claire bit her tongue, forcing back the response she wanted to say to that. She had never thought that the changes she had pushed for — the inclusion of a behaviourist, knowing more details about the assets — would have led them down this path. She was starting to wonder about her own culpability in everything that had happened. Was she to blame? Knowing now wasn't the time, she used his comments as the opportunity for a segue: "Which brings us to James. He must have known what was going on, right? There's no way he could've been training the Indoraptors without this knowledge. What was his real role? Why was he the one chosen?"

"James had the most relevant experience for the job," Masrani replied. "He went through the same hiring process as all the candidates do. He was hired to be their behaviourist. To make sure they were receiving proper socialization and enrichment. So that they wouldn't turn out like the Indominus."

"Doesn't seem like it worked," someone commented.

"Unless the goal was to make _more_ homicidal maniacs," another said.

There were some other comments made, but it was clear that the meeting was becoming derailed again. As much as Claire wanted to explore this topic more — she was intensely curious as to what James's real mandate had been — she knew that she'd have to put it aside for now.

"We should not be speaking ill of the dead."

Claire wasn't sure who made the comment, but an uncomfortable silence descended over the room.

She also wasn't sure how to defuse it, her own temper running high. She had always known that they wouldn't be able to deal with everything today. There were too many things to sort out. Too much to deal with for a single meeting. But she'd hoped they'd at least be able to get through the basics. She was starting to doubt that would be possible, it was too easy to start going down the rabbit holes that were being uncovered with each new piece of information.

"Molly," Claire directed everyone's attention back to the vet, "why don't you continue."

"Oh, um," Molly looked around the room, before switching to a different folder from her stack. "I guess I should give an update on the raptors next. I'll start with Blue, since she received the least damage. She had some cuts and scrapes, including a relatively nasty looking one on her tail, but nothing that required stitches or surgery. She's back at the raptor paddock and will be fine." Molly closed the folder and opened the next. "Next we've got Echo. She–"

A commotion from the door cut Molly off and everyone turned to look. To Claire's surprise, Hoskins was standing there. Well, standing was a bit of an exaggeration. He was propped up on crutches and his entire lower right leg was covered in thick bandages. A quick glance around the room showed that she wasn't alone in not having expected him to show up. There were a few minutes of chaos as people tried to figure out where he should sit, eventually squeezing another chair around the table. Once Hoskins was finally settled, Molly looked unsure as to whether she should continue.

"Oh, don't let me throw you off," Hoskins said. "I caught the gist about Blue. She's fine."

"Right. Okay." Molly was still clearly a little thrown, but she looked down at the papers in front of her. "As I was saying, Echo is next. Our biggest concern with Echo was the effects of her being hit by the tranquilizer after already being so close to exhaustion. It took a long time before she woke up last night, and she appeared to be struggling to shake off the side effects. However, I checked on her this morning and she was eating normally. Like Blue, she also has many superficial cuts and scrapes. We'll continue to keep an eye on her, but I expect her to fully recover." Molly put down the folder she was using and looked around the room. "Any questions so far?"

There were soft murmurs as people shook their heads and gestured for Molly to continue. Claire had been watching Owen's reaction during the news, and so far, none of it seemed like a big surprise to him. She didn't think he'd had a chance to talk with Molly before the meeting, but she guessed that he'd probably touched base with Barry and had already received at least a partial update.

"Charlie ended up with a very serious cut down her left flank that required stitches to close. There was a partial tear to the muscle and she suffered substantial blood loss and needed a transfusion," Molly said, before looking up from the report briefly. "She's still at the Paleovet Center under observation. We expect to be able to move her back to the paddock either tonight or first thing tomorrow, if nothing changes. The long term effects remain unknown, but she's going to have a limp for at least the near future."

"Will she need rehab?" Someone in the room asked, but Claire didn't catch who.

"We don't think so," Molly replied. "But it's hard to tell until we get her up and moving more and see how she deals with the injury. It'll be important that she lays off strenuous activities for a few weeks, but we know that can be difficult to enforce with these animals." She shuffled the folders in front of her again. "Last, but not least, we have Delta. At this time, I can report that we had to enucleate — remove — her right eye as the damage was too great. However, we're more concerned with her splenic rupture. While she was holding steady at first, early this morning she took a turn and we had to perform emergency surgery. She remains under sedation, and we won't have a better idea of her prognosis until she stabilizes and we can let her wake up. Right now we're expecting to be able to do that tomorrow." Molly set down the folder. "I know it doesn't sound great, but we're still cautiously optimistic."

"Wait, all four of them survived the fight?" Hoskins asked, his voice incredulous. "That went even better than I expected."

"Better than… Did you not hear what she just said?" Owen jumped in angrily. "This is not a game, Hoskins. Delta could still die."

"Sure," Hoskins agreed, but his tone was indifferent. "But you're missing the bigger picture, Owen. We've finally got some initial field test data for these raptors and it's even better than we could've imagined. If I had known–"

"If you had known _what_? Huh? What would you have done?" Owen demanded. "Do you not get the response that went into keeping everyone safe. Delta could've killed you. You're _lucky_ that you're alive. We're _all_ lucky."

"They took on two Indoraptors and won," Hoskins said, so full of delight he was practically bouncing in his chair.

There were a couple of seconds of dead silence, as the entire room appeared shocked over his comments, before murmurs started up. Claire had barely managed to wrap her head around what Hoskins had said before Owen spoke up again, looking flabbergasted: "Won? How is this winning?"

"They're alive, the Indoraptors aren't. You're not seeing the bigger picture. We need to get these raptors over to Sorna. We need to continue our research," Hoskins said, leaning forward in his chair.

"One of them is under sedation. Another is under observation. They aren't going _anywhere_." Owen's voice was rising steadily. "Are you even listening to me?"

"Obviously we're not going to move them today," Hoskins dismissed Owen's concerns. "But, we can't let up now. We need to see what else we can learn. We need to take this research to the end."

"For fuck's sake," Owen slammed his hand on arm rest of his chair before leaping to his feet. "What's the point of going over all of this if none of you are even going to listen? If you're not willing to change your ways? You people never learn." With that, he stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him, and leaving everyone staring at it, mouths hanging open in shock.

o-o-o

The rest of the meeting and afternoon were a bit of a blur. After Owen had stormed out, it had taken a while to get back on track and make it through the other reports. Claire hadn't expected a lot of conclusions to come out of the meeting and so she wasn't surprised when at the end of the day, the only real decisions that had been made were around some PR spin and to put a temporary hold on all new species development. A decision Claire knew both Henry and Hoskins were unhappy with.

By the time she was able to get out for the evening (and after managing to get someone to track down her vehicle and bring it back to Control), she was exhausted. But, when she reached the parking lot for the hotel, she found herself driving past it. All she wanted to do was go home and get some sleep, but now that the opportunity was available, she realized there was another stop she needed to make first.

Ten minutes later she was arguing with herself that she was being stupid and that she should just turn around while she still could. That he'd never know. That she could talk to him tomorrow, when she wasn't so tired, when she wasn't overwhelmed, when things had started to calm down.

Except, she was remembering waking up that morning and how good she had felt. Way too good, considering the pitiful amount of sleep she'd had and the rude awakening. And she wanted that feeling of contentment again. That feeling of safety and that everything was going to be all right.

She wanted Owen.

So, instead of turning around, she pulled onto his lot. As she entered the clearing, she saw him stand up from his spot down on the dock and turn, and even though she was too far away to make out his expression in the fading sunlight, she still registered his surprise.

Slowing to a stop, she parked the car and turned off the engine. And then sat frozen behind the wheel. Claire watched as Owen started walking up towards her when she didn't exit, and forced herself to open the door. She was where she was supposed to be, she reminded herself, where she _wanted_ to be.

Getting out of the car, she looked up at Owen who had stopped a few feet away, his hands shoved in his pockets. For what felt like forever, they just stared at each other. Claire opened her mouth to say something, but the words felt stuck, and she didn't even know what she wanted to say.

"I– Are– Just–" she stammered, and then grumbled, finally looking away, frustrated.

"Everything okay?" Owen asked after a pause, and Claire looked back at him. She lifted one shoulder in a half-hearted shrug. "Okay, um…" He looked just as much at a loss as she was. He lifted a hand, scrubbing along his jaw for a moment, his gaze drifting over her shoulder before he looked at her again. "I thought you'd be with your family tonight."

"Oh," Claire tried (unsuccessfully) to hide her surprise at the comment, not wanting to admit that she hadn't even thought of Karen and the boys. Oops. "I was actually on my way home."

It was Owen's turn to look surprised, his gaze drifting around his lot before landing back on her. "I'm not on your way home," he said, confusion on his face.

"I know," Claire looked away again before taking a deep breath and turning back. "But you're…" she trailed off again, closing her eyes in frustration.

"But what?"

Owen's voice was soft and when she looked up she realized he'd moved. He was now barely a foot away from her, his eyes searching hers.

"You're…" Claire reached out with one hand, brushing off imaginary dust from his shoulder before she let her hand trail down and rest on his chest. "It hasn't felt like home," she admitted, her voice barely even a whisper. "Not since…" she left it unfinished, the words hanging in the air between them as her fingers fisted his shirt, her eyes glued to her hand on his chest, unable to meet his gaze.

Thankfully, Owen seemed to take pity on her, or maybe he just understood how hard it was for her to admit what she was trying to say. Whatever it was, Claire was grateful. His hands came forward, one resting lightly on her hip while the other tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and she raised her eyes to his. "I've missed you, too."

She wasn't sure who moved next. Maybe it was mutual. But one moment they were staring at each other, and the next they were kissing. Claire felt his hand on her hip drift around to her lower back, pulling her closer, as his other hand cupped her cheek. At the same time, she used her grip on his shirt to pull herself higher, while her other hand rested on the back of his neck and pulled him down.

Claire barely had time to register the thought that passed through her mind — that it felt like coming home — before the kiss shifted, moving far past what she'd experienced with him during their fake relationship. Her lips parted quickly, allowing his tongue to slip into her mouth, the kiss deepening. This, she thought, getting lost in the sensations, was better than she'd ever imagined. She let go of his shirt to grasp at his shoulder, trying to pull herself even closer despite there being no space left between them.

If it wasn't for her need to breathe, Claire was pretty sure she never would've stopped, not now that she knew what it really felt like. Instead, gasping softly, she pulled back ever so slightly, her eyes closed. Owen didn't stop, moving to plant light kisses along her jaw, on her cheeks, her temple, before finally resting his forehead against hers.

"That was…" Owen started, before chuckling nervously.

"Overdue," Claire said without thinking, and he laughed louder, his hands encircling her, as if afraid she was going to pull away.

"Very," he agreed, leaning back a bit so he could look her in the eyes.

"I mean it," she said nervously, her gaze briefly darting away from his before looking back. "That it hasn't felt the same. I know it was fake, but–"

"But it wasn't," he finished. "Not all of it, anyway." She nodded, relieved that he seemed to be on the same wavelength. That he _got_ her. Although she felt a little ridiculous, now, for having expected less of him. She knew him better than that. He was a better man than she'd let herself believe. She wanted to look away again, the emotion getting to be too much, the heaviness that suddenly hung in the air around them over the confession feeling oppressive, but he dipped his head down, kissing her quickly before pulling back, a smirk on his face. "I really did miss your bed."

Groaning, Claire shoved at his shoulder, but she couldn't help the laughter that bubbled up. His hand rose back up to cup her cheek and bring their gazes together, causing her breath to catch, the look in his eyes far more serious than a moment ago.

"It was always more than fake for me."

"For me, too," Claire agreed.

"You didn't get rid of my Xbox," Owen said after a moment, a look of wonder on his face. "Or deactivate my key."

"You never came back for it."

"I couldn't bring myself to."

"I didn't get rid of anything," Claire admitted. "I just kept waiting…"

She was surprised when he yanked her forward, his lips crashing against hers, but she melted into the kiss quickly. It was different than the last one. Just as passionate — maybe even more so — but after a moment, it went from frenzied to something sweeter, calmer, as if they both suddenly realized they had all the time in the world. Claire was just as swept up in it, and it took her a moment to even realize that Owen had started moving them, the two of them stumbling across his yard, neither willing to pull away.

It was not until they reached the door of his "bungalow" that he paused, pulling back to look at his trailer and then at her, before wincing.

"What?" Claire gasped, trying to pull him back down, not ready for the kiss to end.

"It's just…" he looked at the trailer again. "Are you sure? It's not like your place…"

"It's fine," she reached past him for the door, pulling it open.

"We could–"

"If you say wait," Claire interrupted, her voice incredulous, and the words seemed to knock sense back into Owen.

"Yeah, not happening," he agreed, stepping into his trailer and pulling her after him. "We–"

Whatever he was going to say next Claire never heard, as this time she was the one who pulled him in for a kiss.

o-o-o

"Is the park going to survive this?" Owen asked later, as they were lying in the hammock (together this time), star-gazing. The question had been on his mind since earlier that day. It was the middle of the night, and he knew they should both be exhausted — that they both _were_ exhausted — but they seemed to be running off the high of having finally come together.

They'd relocated outside after they'd realized neither had had dinner, and had got up for a midnight snack. And after Claire had mentioned how much she missed the hammock. Owen had always loved it, but lying in it now, with Claire curled into his side, her head resting on his chest, made him never want to be in it alone again.

"Survive? Yeah," Claire said. "No guests were hurt. Most have no idea what happened and how close things came, but…"

"But what?" Owen prodded when she didn't finish.

"It's not going to be as easy as Simon thinks. This is our second failed launch in two years. While we'll probably be able to keep a number of details under wraps, and we'll be able to control the narrative, people died. A _lot_ of people died."

"What's he saying?"

"Already talking about the next one," Claire sighed. He looked down, watching as she drew abstract shapes across his chest.

"Next dinosaur?" Owen couldn't help the disbelief that coated his tone. Although, why he was shocked, he wasn't sure. They never learned, did they?

"Yep," Claire said tightly.

He raised his hand up to hers, lacing their fingers together, before lifting them up so he could lay a kiss against her knuckles. "I'm glad they've got you."

"I wasn't able to make a difference this time," Claire reminded him.

"But you tried," he said. "And I know you'll continue to try. After this, they'll have to listen to you."

"I wish," she muttered darkly.

"Hey," he waited until she looked up at him. "You're not alone in this, you know? I've got your back."

Claire gave him a weak smile, and he let go of her hands to tug her higher so he could give her a proper kiss.

"But," Owen said, pulling back, "we don't have to talk about this tonight."

"You've got some other ideas?" Claire raised an eyebrow in question.

"I do," he nodded, letting one of his hands drift down her side, his fingers wiggling, eliciting a gasp and then a chuckle. He did it again, this time her body jerking away from him, causing the hammock to sway perilously. He grinned at her gasp of shock. Her hand clutching at his shoulder as she tried to steady herself caused his grin to turn into a groan and a wince.

"Sorry," Claire gasped, quickly letting go, her fingertips brushing lightly over the dark purple bruise that covered his shoulder from his dive off the ATV. "I'm not sure hammocks were meant for that."

"That's okay, that's not really my plan," Owen said. He shifted them until she was stretched out on top of him. She propped herself up on his chest, her gaze locking onto his. "Hey," he said, his voice soft, the mood changing in an instant.

"Hey," Claire's reply was equally soft.

"I'm glad we're here."

"Me too."

He had other things he wanted to say. Hundreds of things he wanted to tell her. Stories to share. Memories to recap. But, he decided as she leaned down, those could wait. He reached up, meeting her in the middle, letting the kiss carry them away.

**The End**

* * *

_Whew. 😭 I can't believe we're finally here. I hope the ridiculously slow burn pay off was worth the wait. :) _

_Thank you so much to everyone who has commented, given kudos, subscribed, favourited, and supported this story. I've loved having you all along for the ride. It absolutely makes my day to receive each and every one. _

_And I cannot thank **Elise **and **Nadin** enough for their support with this story. They were there from the very first super sketchy outline of this story, through every chapter and every question. So much of this story would not exist without their support and contributions. Please go check out their works and support them too. _

_**Some news:**_

_1\. So IC is over, but not really. I do have a **sequel** in the works. I'm hoping to start writing it in November (still planning it all out). I also do have an epilogue for this story. **BUT**, it's also likely going to be part of the first chapter of the sequel. So... you're going to have to wait a bit. I'm planning on posting it likely when the sequel is ready to post (I'm hoping by end of November, start of December). If you want to make sure you don't miss it (both the epilogue _and_ the sequel), make sure you subscribe and follow! The sequel will again have a prominent Jurassic storyline. _

_2\. Want to hear me talk about fic? Back in August I recorded a segment for the **Jurassic Park Podcast** with Elise and Jennifer (of the BDHNetwork) all about fic and it was released this week (**episode 206**). Please check it out, and if you want to hear more from us, tell them how much you loved it. I could talk about fic all day._

_3\. Did you catch the update to **The Missing Years**? That's right, it's back! Act II will be finished off over the next month or so and then onto Act 3._


	30. Chapter 30

**Epilogue**

Driving towards the raptor paddock, her hands clutching tightly to the steering wheel, Claire tried to get her emotions under control. She knew it wouldn't be good to show up already furious (even if she was). If they were going to be able to deal with this, if they were going to actually be able to have a real relationship, they needed to be able to talk.

And, more importantly, they needed to stop making assumptions about each other. She knew that. She knew Owen did, too. They'd had more than one conversation on that very topic over the past couple of months. But, being aware of that, _knowing_ that, didn't mean it was easy to change.

In some ways, deciding to _actually_ be together, to honestly, truly, be together, was the easiest decision she'd ever made. And actually doing so, had been surprisingly easy. It almost felt like they were just fake dating again. They met for meals and hung out at each other's places. He'd play on his Xbox while she worked on reports. They'd watch movies, although now curled up together, instead of simply sitting side-by-side. And they continued to share a bed (although _that part_ had definitely changed, and for the better).

She had expected things to be harder, now that they knew what the other wanted. That the easy camaraderie they'd had back when they were fake dating wouldn't be so easy now that there were "real feelings" involved. She'd even made a comment about that to Owen, who'd laughed and said: "There were always real feelings involved."

In other ways, being together was the hardest choice she'd ever made. Sure, Karen, her nephews, Lowery and Zara all seemed happy for her. (Too happy, really, in Claire's opinion.) But it felt like she was back under constant surveillance. Like every move she made, every interaction she had with Owen, was being judged and dissected. Before, when they were fake dating, they were putting on a show, and it felt easier to ignore the rumours. But this time, probably because everyone loved gossip and drama, them getting "back" together seemed to cause a spike in interest.

Claire kept waiting for everyone to get bored, to decide they really weren't worth the attention. So far, it hadn't happened, and instead she'd been overhearing people debating when Owen was going to propose and if they'd also get married on the island like Zara had. She really hoped Owen wasn't hearing those rumours and that he wasn't about to do so — they'd barely been _really_ together for a couple of months. She wasn't ready.

Not only had it been barely over two months, but, dammit, they clearly hadn't fixed the open communication part, or she wouldn't be slamming on her brakes as she pulled into the raptors paddock, her anger surging again. Why hadn't he _said_ something? Didn't he think this was something they should talk through together? Or was he not as committed as she was? They'd never actually talked about that, had never labelled what they were now.

Slamming the door to her car as she got out, Claire berated herself for clearly _not_ having managed to calm down. She forced herself to take a couple of deep breaths before sweeping her gaze over the paddock. Where was he?

The sound of boots on the metal stairs caught her attention and she turned, raising her hand to her forehead, squinting against the glare of the sun, confirming that yep, that was Owen on his way down. She couldn't make out his expression, the sun too bright behind him, but she started her way across the yard towards him.

"Hey," Owen greeted her with a bright smile on his face. "What brings you out here?"

"I can't believe you didn't tell me," she hissed, and she watched as his smile faltered. "Did you think I wasn't going to find out? Were you just going to move off island and never tell me?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Owen held up his hands, his smile gone. "Back up there, Claire. Calm down."

"Calm down?" Claire said, her voice getting louder. "You want me to calm down? You're just going to up and leave and you want me to–"

"I'm not going anywhere," Owen replied, grabbing her by the arms, startling her. He was looking at her intently, waiting for her to meet his gaze. She did so, reluctantly. "I'm not. I swear," he repeated.

"But Hoskins was just–"

"Shit, Claire. You're listening to Hoskins?" Owen groaned, a hand raising to scrub at his jaw. He looked around them, and Claire followed his gaze, seeing a few of the paddock workers had paused in their work and were watching their interaction curiously. She immediately flushed, wondering how much they'd overheard. "I'm not moving," Owen repeated. "Hoskins has started pushing hard for the raptors to get moved to Sorna again. I'm kind of surprised he's waited this long."

"Sorna?" Claire asked, her brow furrowed, her anger falling away. She was starting to feel sheepish at her reaction, but she didn't get why Owen hadn't reached out to her. "For the field test? I thought that was canceled."

"It is," Owen nodded. "At least, it _was_. With Delta's death, and with Charlie's injury, the raptors aren't in shape to do what we had originally planned. But…" He shrugged, looking over his shoulder at the paddock behind him, and Claire could feel the tension and stress rising in him when he turned back to her.

"But what?" It was Claire's turn to reach for him, resting her hand on his arm.

"They're not happy. They're moody all the time. They're snapping at each other. At me. At Barry. I don't know what to do." He raised a hand, pinching the bridge of his nose as he let out a deep sigh. "Maybe they'd be happier on Sorna. Somewhere different, without the memories. With more space."

"He wouldn't be moving them just so they could run around more freely," Claire said, her eyes narrowing. "He's got to have a bigger endgame at play."

"Yeah," Owen nodded. "I wish I knew what it was." He took a deep breath before moving closer to her and wrapping his arms loosely around her. Claire fought her instinct to pull away, trying not to think of all the dirt he was transferring to her clothes. "I don't want to think about that. Not now. Can we start over?" He lowered his head until his forehead was resting against hers, his voice dropping. "Hi."

"Hey," Claire said back, letting her own shoulders relax, before she pushed up onto her toes so she could kiss him hello. Screw her clothes, she could stop off at home after.

It wasn't long before they pulled back, they _were_ standing outside at Owen's work, after all. And even if everyone knew about them, Claire didn't like being too obvious in public. It felt like she was just fueling the rumours.

"You know," Owen said, a mischievous grin appearing, along with a twinkle of humour in his eyes. "Maybe we _should_ be talking about me moving."

"You _want_ to go to Sorna?" Claire tried hard to keep her tone level, to not let the immediate dread she felt flooding the pit of her stomach show.

"Not Sorna," Owen shook his head. "I was thinking more about right here."

"Right here…" Claire repeated him slowly, not 100% sure she was following his thoughts.

"Yeah," Owen said. "Maybe you could free up another drawer, give me a few inches of space in the closet."

"Are you sure it's not too soon?" The words were out of her mouth before she had even fully thought them, and by the falter in his grin, Claire wondered if maybe it was actually _her_ who was holding back, and not him.

"We were almost living together before," Owen shrugged, his gaze darting away from hers. He paused, and then cleared his throat. "I mean… only if you want to. We–"

"You won't miss your place?" she interrupted him. "I don't want to take that away from you."

"I was thinking we could keep both," he admitted. "I know your place is better located for your work, but maybe we can spend weekends, or the odd night out at my place. Sort of like a… like having a cabin."

"I do love your hammock," Claire said, a thoughtful look on her face. "You're okay with being at my place more? The noise? Being more in the 'action'?"

"The benefits more than outweigh the drawbacks," he replied. "Room service. Your TV. Your shower. Your _bed_."

"Oh, I see how it is, you just want me for my place," she joked.

"You have to admit that you come with some great perks," he laughed with her, before his tone turned serious. "I don't care where we live. I just want to start and end my days with you."

Claire wasn't sure how to respond to that, and instead just reached up to kiss him again. She was feeling guilty for having arrived out there ready to yell at him and in return he was telling her he wanted more.

"You know," Owen said, grinning at her as he pulled away, "You actually came at a really good time."

"Oh?" she asked, a little concerned about his glee. He slipped his arm around her waist, directing her towards the holding pen.

"We were just getting the raptors into their harnesses for a checkup," he said, keying in the code to open the gate. Before Claire had a chance to realize what he was doing, he'd pulled her into the holding pen with him. "You've been avoiding meeting them," he noted and she froze just inside the gate. Owen started to take a couple of steps before he seemed to realize that she wasn't beside him, as his arm slid out from behind her. He quickly snagged her hand, tugging her forward. "It's perfectly safe," he reassured, but she barely heard him, her gaze focused on the three raptors who were currently secured in their harnesses. She could feel their gazes on her, evaluating her, _judging_ her.

She tried to take a step back. "I can meet them from outside," Claire said, her voice panicky.

"Claire," Owen said, stepping in front of her, blocking her view of the raptors. "Hey, look at me." It was hard to resist the urge to lean to the side, to confirm that the raptors were still safely locked up. She raised her gaze to his. "They can't hurt you. I promise. I would never do anything to put you in harm's way, you know that, right?"

She nodded.

"I'm not saying they're safe, we both know they're not," Owen said as he stepped to the side, so she could see them again. "But, they can't get you."

He moved closer to the raptors and Claire took hesitant steps alongside him, her hand clutching at his tightly. She was relieved when he didn't make a quip about it, and instead just introduced her to the raptors, one by one. Charlie. Echo. Blue. The three of them stared at her, watching her intently when Owen would place her hand on their necks. Even though they were restrained, she could feel the power running through them, how lean their bodies were, how full of strength.

"You know," she said when she finally stepped back, her gaze locked on Blue's, "I thought she was going to attack me. That afternoon, in the valley. But she didn't. And I don't get why."

"When?" Owen asked, looking between Claire and the raptor. Claire could tell he was thinking over that day, trying to recall what she was referring to.

"Right before you showed up, with the ATV," she said. "One of the Indoraptors, I can't remember which one now, had tossed her aside, and she landed right in front of me. She stared at me, with her head cocked to the side, like she was… like she was debating what to do. And then…"

"What?"

"She just turned and raced back into the fight," Claire shrugged. She finally tore her gaze away from Blue to look at Owen. "She could've killed me. I had nothing to defend myself with. But she didn't."

"They're not like the Indoraptors," Owen reminded her, stepping closer to her side. "And Blue's extra special. She's the most empathetic of the raptors. They're not indiscriminate killers. They weren't going after us — people — when they got out. They didn't even pick the battle with the Indoraptors."

"Delta attacked Hoskins," she reminded him.

"Yeah, but that's different," he replied, and Claire looked up at him, her question clear. "He'd never treated her well. He had it coming."

She leaned into his side, wrapping an arm around his waist as she looked at the raptors thoughtfully. "They've started talking about making more."

"More Indoraptors?" Owen almost pulled away, but she clutched at his side, keeping him close.

"No, hybrids are still on hold, thankfully. But Simon and InGen are talking about giving the go-ahead for R&D to start up again. We'd had some other species in development."

"That's… Is that good?"

Claire shrugged. "We need something. If the park's going to stay alive. I told Simon that I want to be more involved."

"How'd he take that?"

"Fine, I think. I mean, he didn't say 'no,' but who knows how things will play out." She pulled away from his side, starting towards the gate. "I need to get back to work."

Owen followed after her, the two walking quietly to her car, before stopping by the driver's side door.

Claire looked up at him, debating whether to ask what she wanted to ask. "If Hoskins gets his way, if he moves the raptors…" She looked back towards the paddock before meeting his gaze. "Are you really going to stay here?"

"I want to," Owen said, also looking back to the paddock. "Although, I suppose I won't have a job, then." He met her gaze, his voice taking on a joking tone. "Maybe I'll become a kept man."

"I'm sure we can figure out something for you to do," Claire rolled her eyes. "You know… Hoskins has also been talking about starting a new batch."

"Of raptors?" Owen asked, his eyes widening.

"Yeah," she nodded, her expression cloudy. "It's mostly just him musing so far, but…" She pulled open her car door. "But, that's a concern for another day." Claire looked over at him, her expression clearing, a smile emerging. "And hey, we've got bigger things to deal with today." She reached for him, tugging him towards her.

"Oh yeah?" Owen asked, his own arms wrapping around her, his head lowering towards hers.

"You're moving in," Claire said, her voice full of awe. "I need to do some re-organizing. Clean out some space–"

Her musings were cut off as Owen dipped his head, capturing her lips with his. He pulled back just long enough to say, "Worry about that tomorrow. Tonight, we're celebrating." Claire decided to take his advice, her hands creeping up his back, one tangling in the hair at the base of his neck, her mouth parting against his. Yeah, everything else could wait.

* * *

_Whew. And a happy every after for Claire and Owen... or is it? _

_I just posted the first chapter of the sequel which is called _**Picking up the Pieces**_. While chapter one _starts_ with the above scene, it contains additional scenes. So don't skip it just because you read the epilogue here._

_Also, if you're didn't catch it, over the last month Elise and I finished posting Act II of _**The Missing Years**_ (Claire and Owen and Eli and Henry and Indoraptors oh my!) and I posted a new _**Snapshot**_ (Maisie's POV for a change) at the start of this week._


End file.
